The RIAA is seeking a gargantuan compensation figure as part of the suit, a whopping $1.65 trillion dollars.

That’s right, trillion.

*raises pinky to mouth and cackles*

How did the RIAA arrive at such a staggering, Dr. Evil-esque amount? According to their calculations, between June and October of ’06, approximately 11 million songs were downloaded from AllofMP3. Multiply that by the $150,000 the RIAA is seeking in back royalties for each song, and you arrive at the magic number.

Russian-based AllofMP3 responded to the outrageous figure rather calmly in a blog post:

The RIAA has been the object of some scrutiny by many who claim that artists rarely, if ever, see any part of the “royalties” collected by the organization from online music sales. Along with AllofMP3.com, the EFF is taking a stand against the RIAA by petitioning Congress to put an end to the egregious lawsuits that the organization files against American citizens rather than the entities that distribute the illegal content.

Taken from the EFF site:

Disclosure: I signed this petition as a show of support for the EFF’s stance.

I’m left wondering how much of this proposed $1.65 trillion that the artists would actually be entitled should the RIAA win this mockery of a lawsuit? After the RIAA takes their cut, and the record labels then take their share of the loot, and after it’s all distributed to the various artists whose music was “illegally” downloaded, how much is left – $150 per artist? Maybe?

Even better, though, let’s look at the alternative. What would be the ramifications of a court decision in AllofMP3′s favor? Nate Anderson over at Ars Technica delivers a great theoretical analysis:

As you might have been able to deduce by now, I’m not exactly a card-carrying member of the RIAA. It’s not that I condone piracy, quite the contrary in fact. It’s just difficult to support an organization that has a long and well-documented history of sticking it to musicians time and time again and keeping the loot for themselves.

The facts are:

Legal or not, AllofMP3 provides all of these benefits to the customer. Perhaps the RIAA would be better served by learning how to leverage the digital music community in a similar fashion, instead of employing these Gestapo-like tactics to hunt down and prosecute ordinary civilians and off-shore providers.

That’s my .02, anyway.

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Joe is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.

Since it’s inception, Russian music download site AllofMP3.com has maintained it’s innocence amidst accusations of violating US internet piracy laws, claiming that the site did in fact comply with Russian laws.

“The works available from ALLOFMP3.com are protected by the Law of the Russian Federation “On Copyright and Related Rights” and are for personal use of a buyer. Commercial use of such material is prohibited. Recording, copying, distribution on any media is possible only upon special consent of a Rightholder,” representatives of the company say.

According to Russian copyright laws, the site is protected due to the absence of a provision regarding digital music distribution.

Because of that fact the US government, as well as the RIAA, had previously been unsuccessful in attempts to shut down operations of the site.

Operators of AllofMP3.com believe that because of the fact that they are protected by the Russian Federation, there is a stipulation in US copyright law.

They believe the stipulation comes in the form of an exportation clause, which would make the downloading of music from the site legal to US citizens.

AllofMP3.com finally complied with the US government and the RIAA, however, after threats were allegedly made that the site would not be granted entry into the World Trade Organization; agreeing to shut down any sites that “permit illegal distribution of music and other copyright works.”

The official document regarding the compliance of the company was posted November 19 at the website for the Office of the United States Trade Representative, as well as at Digg.

In the document, the details of the agreement between the US and the Russian site are summarized. It states that, “The US and Russia agreed on a binding blueprint for actions Russia will take to address piracy, counterfeiting, and improve protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights.”

Currently it would appear that the Russian site will comply with the requests of the United States government and the RIAA, but it will be interesting to see how this story further develops.

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Autmn Davis is a staff writer for WebProNews covering ebusiness and technology.