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Pirate Bay Trials Sails into Swedish Court Today

Posted 02/16/09 at 04:20:20 PM  by Paul Lilly

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Sweden-based BitTorrent indexing site Pirate Bay goes to trial today in Sweden on accusations that the popular torrent site has helped millions of users illegally download copyrighted material. If found guilty, Frederick Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi, and Carl Lundström could each receive up to two years in prison along with a 1.2 million kronor (just over $140,000) fine.

At least two of the defendants don't seem too worried about the trial, and during a webcast news conference over the weekend offered a defiant message to the Swedish court.

"What are they going to do about it? They have already failed to take down the site once. Let them fail again. It has its own life without us," Ward was quoting as saying by TorrentFreak.

The court will also hear a civil claim being brought on by Warner Bros., MGM, Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Sony BMG, Universal, and BMG. Collectively, the companies are seeking 120 million kronor ($14.3 million) to compensate for alleged lost revenues.

"It does not matter if they require several million or one billion," said an also defiant Peter Sunde. "We are not rich and have no money to pay. They won't get a cent."

We'll continue to follow the trial as it unfolds, which, according to the prosecution, is expected to last for 13 days.

Image Credit: Joe Gratz

COMMENTS:8
TAGS: Software, legal, torrent, court, pirate bay
COMMENTS
avatarUpdate

Submitted by whelderwheels613 on Tue, 02/17/2009 - 9:45am

An update to the trial here:

http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/managing-infosec/half-the-charges-against-the-pirate-bay-dropped-30048

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avatarThere's really no case.

Submitted by JDorfler on Tue, 02/17/2009 - 7:16am

Pirate Bay did not pirate a thing.  They just set up an area where the users can do as they wish.  Sueing Pirate Bay is like sueing an owner of a building b/c someone put up copyrighted/trademarked graphity on the wall.

 

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avatarIt's pointless

Submitted by ShinRenNu on Tue, 02/17/2009 - 4:49am

Why are they pursuing this charges when Pirate Bay is NOT the ONLY one who offers copyrighted materials. Name a fex like Mininova, Demonoid and other torrent sites. I only remember when Napster first introduce to download free music, but look at now, we now have limewire & frostwire and other free stuff to download. So why do this when there are others as well?

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avatari believe this is similar to

Submitted by nsk chaos on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 5:13pm

i believe this is similar to what happened in The Crucible. i know this might wierd because im relating this issue with literature but its relevant (in my point of view). when john proctor was forced to sign the form, the judges wanted to post it so everyone in the town can see it. they wanted to use this as a sign that they can topple even one of the toughest man in the town. by doing this they have established a sense of power.

just like here. if you say pirate bay is one of the most well known and most largest torrent site, then if this case succeds, a domino effect might occur. in this manner, all the rest of the smaller sites will begin to close.

who knows if this is what is gonna happen. but if what i predict is true, then torrents around the globe will have issues along with the sites.

for those of you who do not know what The Crucible is, look it up and do not be lazy. its a boring book though but ill help you understand my point. 

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avatarWhat?

Submitted by knexkid on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 6:41pm

I know 2 years and $140,000 is a lot, but it doesn't seem like much for being probably THE LARGEST torrent site for illigal copywrited material.  It is one of the most well known torrent sites, and it kind of seems just like a slap on the wrist for such a huge thing they do.

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avatarLet them eat cake!

Submitted by auwingr1 on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 6:31pm

It's sad that intellectual property is pirated in the first place, but remain it to say that it does happen.

I personally don't condone the act of piracy, but it's going to happen in today's electronic age. The sad part is you can close down Pirate's Bay, but two more will pop-up tomorrow.

P2P downloading is almost a given. People no more feel guilty about downloading music or movies, than they do when they do 80 mph in a 65 mph zone. It just happens guilt free...doesn't say much for society, does it?

 

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avatarThese lawsuits accomplish

Submitted by Keith E. Whisman on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 4:07pm

These lawsuits accomplish nothing. I don't think the judge is going to award much of anything in the civil suit but they probably will have to shut the site down. But it'll be back like last time and like Demonoid.com that is back up and running and torrentit.com is back up and running under a different name but largly the same people. As for me I am a member of those pirate sites but like Bill Clinton I'm going to claim that I did not inhail so I didn't brake any laws while downloading because I didn't get high.

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avatarI have mixed feelings about

Submitted by whelderwheels613 on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 3:50pm

I have mixed feelings about this. I do support the idea that content is information, not property, and that informaition should be free, but I don't support the action The Pirate Bay has taken to show their idea. Personally, I support the underground organizations that challenge authority, because of thier motive, not their actions. Well, some of their actions. But it doesn't matter, The Pirate Bay isn't going anywhere, even if they are found guilty, and I hope that those corporations don't get a cent out of them, because of thier motive.

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