Danish Court Orders AllofMP3 Blocked

A Danish court has ruled that an Internet provider must block access to AllofMP3.com, the controversial Russian online music store within the country. The ruling is a victory for the recording industry and IFPI, whose Danish arm filed the case in July of this year.

The music site's days appear to be numbered as both Visa and MasterCard have now banned the site from taking credit cards, and a ruling in Germany along with court cases in Russia, Italy, and the UK are putting the site on the defensive.

"This judgment is one more step along the road to getting this rogue site closed down," said IFPI chairman and CEO John Kennedy. "Allofmp3.com illegally offers for sale copies of music that it has no right to reproduce or distribute."

The site claims to be licensed by Russian-based ROMS, although the industry says that the group has no right to license copyrighted content. In fact, ROMS has been expelled from an international copyright confederation, IFPI noted.

"We warmly welcome the enforcement courts' decision," IFPI Denmark chairman Jens-Otta Paludan said. " With this judicial decision we can, at last, bring one of the most provoking pirate services' activities in this country to an efficient standstill."

AllofMP3 could not be reached for comment, although it earlier had defended itself by saying that it attempted to work with the labels but they have so far refused.