The Recording Industry Association of America has
accused Spanish music site Puretunes of offering illegal music
downloads, and has filed suit against its parent
company, Sakfield.
Puretunes.com debuted in May, hoping to take advantage of the
ability of Spanish artist and performance rights' societies to sign
deals offering unlimited music downloads.
The site went offline last month, however, amid complaints from
users who feared the owners had run off with their subscription
fees.
Puretunes representatives could not be located yesterday to
comment on the suit.
In its complaint, the RIAA claimed that despite Puretunes'
claims, the site's owners had not sought or obtained licences for
the music they were selling.
"It's bad enough that Puretunes was selling music illegally -
it's even worse that they tried to perpetrate a fraud on the public
by claiming that they were a legitimate business," the RIAA
said.
The Puretones lawsuit is just the latest in a series of legal
actions the music industry has taken against those accused of
offering illegal music downloads.
Since suing notorious peer-to-peer file trading company Napster,
which was finally forced offline last year, the music industry has
targeted the likes of Kazaa, Grokster and Morpheus. The industry is
also going after individuals who have downloaded copyright music
illegally.
Scarlet Pruitt writes for IDG News Service