Nine Music Labels Plan To Sue Vkontakte, The Facebook Of Russia, Over 6,000 Illegal Tracks

Vkontakte, a social networking site known as the “Facebook of Russia”, is facing legal action from nine music labels including EMI, Sony and Warner over what they claim is the unlawful distribution of some 6,000 tracks of licensed music on the site from artists like Madonna, Linkin Park, Metallica and Beyonce. The lawsuits are being prepared for filing after the holidays, according to the Russian newspaper Izvestia.

Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Vkontakte, says the site is prepared to negotiate with them, as it has with video rightsholders. “If some music companies wish their content to be deleted from VK, we, as always, are willing to comply with their wish,” he told TechCrunch. “On the other hand, we are also ready to seek mutually beneficial ways to monetize their content. This year we managed to find such a solution for video content and we are optimistic about the audio section of VK as well.

“Of course, if no agreement with large record companies is reached, their content will be deleted and VK music service will rely mostly on independent artists.”

If the suits go ahead, they look like they may be some of the first big moves from music rightsholders to go after a major site in the wake of a new anti-piracy law in the country designed to protect copyright better.

That law originally was aimed to focus more on video content but there are some who hope to extend it to include music. The law enforces improved communication by requiring site owners to provide easy-to-find contact details, including real-world addresses, and forms for rightsholders to file complaints faster. If a site fails to comply with an infringement complaint, it faces a block at the ISP level.

Leonid Agronov, the head of Russia’s National Federation of the Music Industry (Russia’s RIAA), told Izvestia that his organization has long been trying to negotiate with Vkontakte over music distributed through its site. The NFMI claims that Vkontakte does not pay for streamed plays, neither by charging users directly nor by paying the licensing fee directly. But that does not mean that the social network is not profiting.

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Microsoft Exec Charged With Insider Trading, SEC Alleges 400K In Illegal Gains

Reality is always better than fiction. Today the Securities and Exchange Commission charged a — now former — Microsoft “senior manager” with insider trading. The employee, Brian Jorgenson, is accused of working with a friend to trade Microsoft stock and shares of its partners ahead of news such as earnings, generating almost $400,000 in profits over the course of the partnership that began in April of 2012. The pair had intended to use the spoils from their venture to start a hedge fund, according to the SEC.

Protip: If you are going to abuse your job’s access to information to grind out illegal profits with a friend in hopes of building up a big enough stack so that you can open a hedge fund, don’t get caught. You look silly. Not to mention like a bastard. Still, making a cool $393,125 in a year and a half ain’t no small kaboodle, so you have to give Jorgenson and his co-conspirator Sean Stokke props for pulling of the scheme, at least financially. Bastards.

Here’s how it worked: Microsoft planned to invest $300 million into Barnes & Noble’s Nook reader project. Jorgenson found out, passed the information along to Stokke, who bought, according to the SEC, “$14,000 worth of call options on Barnes & Noble common stock.” Microsoft announced the deal, and bounced Barnes & Noble’s stock up about 50%. Profit to the pair? About $185,000. Imagine what they could have made if they already had that hedge fund money they wanted to raise. 

The SEC goes on to note two other cases, including trading before a Microsoft earnings announcements. According to ZDNet, Microsoft fired Jorgenson, and helped the SEC in its investigation. Here are the formal charges:
Jorgenson and Stokke are charged with violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5, both directly and pursuant to 20(d) of the Exchange Act.  

The SEC seeks permanent injunctions, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus prejudgment interest, and financial penalties against Jorgenson and Stokke as well as an officer-and-director bar against Jorgenson.

Top Image Credit: Flickr

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