RIAA denies trillion dollar lawsuit

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has denied claims that it is seeking $1.6 trillion in damages from a Russian online music store. 

A press officer for the RIAA said that the organisation had not seen the media reports and had not made any official announcement.

"It is possible that the figure has been extrapolated from the number of tracks," the RIAA spokesman said.

"The $15,000 per track is laid down in US copyright law and is not something we have selected. It is possible that people are just doing the math."

The RIAA has not issued any updates on the case since the original filing back in December 2006.

The music copyright body has filed its claim against 11 million allegedly pirated songs in a New York court of law.

However, Mediaservices, which runs AllofMP3.com and allTunes.com in Russia, claimed that it was complying with its country's law by paying 15 per cent royalties to the Russian Organisation for Multimedia. 

The controversial Russian operation is already facing a lawsuit from the British Phonographic Institute and has seen credit cards firms blocking payments.