It looks like the long, litigious saga of AllofMP3 is about to take yet another turn, with the company is now promising to resume its music download service following a recent Russian court ruling in its favor. While it apparently isn't quite ready to get all that specific, the company has posted a brief notice on its official blog saying that it expects to resume the service in the "foreseeable future," and that it's doing its best to ensure that "users can use their accounts, top up balance and order music." Of course, AllofMP3 has hardly left all its legal troubles behind it, so there's no telling what may happen between now and the intended re-launch. Either way, we're pretty sure this won't be the last we hear from the company.

[Via The Inquirer]

It never looked like those crazy semi-pirates over at AllOfMP3.com would stick around long, and indeed, after a couple years of legal struggles, the site has finally had its plug pulled. Despite the site supposedly barring Russia from WTO entry, and high profile lawsuits filed on behalf of the record labels, it's not clear at this point whether AllOfMP3 was shut down due to an internal decision or an external mandate. Unfortunately for copyright holders, the MediaServices folks behind AllOfMP3 aren't exactly changing directions: they've merely opened up a practical mirror image of AllOfMP3.com over at MP3Sparks.com, and are keeping up with their nefarious ways.

Despite our occasional disregard for intellectual property rights and junk like that, mixed with our general dislike for the "screw the artists" ethics of the RIAA, it's hard to argue with the illegality of AllOfMP3.com. Plus, with with the blatant lawlessness of its operations possibly even keeping Russia out of the WTO, it seems like Russia has plenty of incentive to shore up this operation, and apparently they're attempting to do just that. That's why we're a bit surprised to see a group of labels finally filing an actual lawsuit against AllOfMP3, since they've already pretty much won: Visa and MasterCard are disallowing payments to the service, and most international governments are on their side. Plus, the lawsuit is being filed in New York, which, at least the last time we checked, didn't have a whole lot of legal authority over in Russia. All the same, you've gotta give up respect for the labels' systematic and brutal defense of their aging business model -- at least they're hardcore about it.

[Via Techdirt]