Several major record labels, including Arista Records, Warner Bros., Capitol and UMG Recordings, have announced that they are suing controversial Russian music Web site AllofMP3.com, claiming that the site had been selling copyrighted music without permission. The lawsuit was filed in New york federal court against Moscow-based Mediaservices, which owns AllofMP3 and another music site, allTunes.com.

According to the record labels, Mediaservices’ sites sell millions of songs by their artists without paying them “a dime” for the right to do so.The “Defendant’s entire business … amounts to nothing more than a massive infringement of plaintiffs’ exclusive rights under the Copyright Act and New York law,” according to the lawsuit.

Mediaservices has maintained that by paying royalties to a Russian licensing group, the Web site is in compliance with Russian laws. The music industry contends that the Russian licensing group doesn’t have the authority to collect and distribute royalties for them.This fall, Visa International and MasterCard Inc. stopped accepting credit card transactions for purchases made at Mediaservices’ sites.

via The Associated Press