Judge Ekaterina Sharapova has acquitted Denis Kravsov, a director of Mediaservices, the company that owned AllofMP3.com and ruled that the site operated within the bounds of Russian law as it made payments to Russian collection societies - on behalf of the legitimate copyright owners even though the main Russian Collection Society has been derecognised by many Western collecting societies.

Tellingly the site was selling music by The Beatles who famously have yet to license their content for download to anybody. There are two more cases against Mediaservices pending, but anti-piracy bodies including the IFPI  have argued this ruling has set a "very bad precedent".

The issue of IP protection remains a sticking point for Russia's entry to the World Trade Organisation.