Sweden loses The Pirate Bay case
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- Sweden lost The Pirate Bay case.
Stockholm district court had an opportunity to demonstrate to the world that Sweden is still the free and progressive country it was once famous for being.
Instead, it confirmed that like America, it’s little more than another music and movie industry enforcement, sales and marketing division which puts corporate interests before those of its citizens.
paidContent in the Washington Post
A Swedish court has found the four men behind the infamous Swedish BitTorrent tracking site The Pirate Bay guilty of assisting copyright infringement. Each has been sentenced to one year in jail. Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi (top), Frederik Neij (left), Gottfrid Svartholm Warg (centre) and millionaire donor Carl Lundström must pay SEK 30 million ($3.59 million) in damages.
New York Times (Europe)
A court in Sweden on Friday found four men behind the notorious Internet file-sharing service The Pirate Bay guilty of violating copyright law, handing the music and movie industries a big victory in their campaign to curb online piracy. The court found that the four men â Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg and Peter Sunde, plus Carl Lundstrom â had aided copyright infringement via The Pirate Bay, which provides links to thousands of songs, films, video games and other material, and helps users download them.
Agenzia Giornalistica Italia
A court in Stockholm has sentenced the four owners of internet portal The Pirate Bay to one year in prison for ‘assisting’ to download music, films and videogames from the internet, violating copyright.
BBC
Four men behind the Swedish-based file-sharing website The Pirate Bay have been found guilty of breaking copyright law. Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Carl Lundstrom and Peter Sunde were each sentenced to a year in jail.
The Local
The four men connected with The Pirate Bay were found guilty of being accessories to copyright infringement by a Swedish court on Friday, delivering a symbolic victory in the entertainment industry`s efforts to put a stop to the sharing of copyrighted material on the internet.
TorrentFreak’s enigmax has been covering the trial since Day One.
Below is his summation »»»
While only a few weeks ago, it seems like an eternity since the trial of The Pirate Bay Four ended and the court retired to consider its verdict. The prosecution claimed that the four defendants were `assisting in making copyright content available’ and demanded millions of dollars in damages. The defense did not agree, and all pleaded not guilty – backed up by the inimitable King Kong defense.
Today, Friday April 17, the court issued its decision. Here are the main points relating to each defendant (continually updated live);
brokep – Peter Sunde (born September 13, 1978)
Verdict: Guilty – 1 year in prison, damages to pay: $905,000
Peter Althin, brokep’s lawyer said, “I spoke to Peter and he wasn’t very surprised. A journalist he’d spoken to knew an hour before it was public that all four would be convicted. The verdict was leaked from the court. I have to think about what effects that can have on the sentence. It is unacceptable that the court is leaking.
TiAMO – Fredrik Neij (born April 27, 1978)
Verdict: Guilty – 1 year in prison, damages to pay: $905,000
Anakata – Gottfrid Svartholm (October 17, 1984)
Verdict: Guilty – 1 year in prison, damages to pay: $905,000
Anakata’s lawyer Ola Salomonsson said, “We’re appealing. It’s very surprising that the court has chosen to treat the accused as a team.
Carl Lundström (born April 13, 1960)
Verdict: Guilty – 1 year in prison, damages to pay: $905,000
The court said that the four defendants worked as a team, were aware that copyrighted material was being shared using The Pirate Bay and that they made it easy and assisted the infringements. It categorized the infringements as ’severe’. The judge said that the users of The Pirate Bay committed the first offense by sharing files and the four assisted this.
While the court did not agree with the plaintiff’s exaggerated estimates of losses, it still set the damages at 30 million SEK ($3,620,000). This a hugely significant amount and the court has ordered that the four should pay this amount between them.
The judge also stated that the usage of BitTorrent at The Pirate Bay is illegal. Rest assured, other torrent sites hosted in Sweden will be keeping a close eye on developments.
The defense put it to the judge that he had folded under intense political pressure. The judge denied this stating that the court made its decision based on the case presented to them.
At one point the judge was asked if he was concerned for his personal safety after handing down this decision. The judge said he hadn’t received any harassment and was quite surprised at the question.
While the judge won’t be getting any flowers for this verdict, Roger Wallis who spoke in favor of The Pirate Bay at their trial and received a mountain of floral tributes in return, noted, “This will cause a flood of court cases. Against all the ISPs. Because if these guys assisted in copyright infringements, then the ISPs also did. This will have huge consequences. The entire development of broadband may be stalled.
Peter Sunde has already explained that this decision does not mean the end of the line in this case. There will be an appeal which means we are still far away from the ultimate decision – possibly years away. The case is now expected to move to the high court. Both sides have three weeks to file a written appeal.
Rasmus Fleischer, one of the founders of PiratbyrÃ¥n commented, “The sentence has no formal consequence and no juridical value. We chose to treat the trial as a theater play and as such it’s been far better than we ever could have believed.
As for the fate of the site, Peter has already promised that The Pirate Bay will continue. The site itself was never on trial, only the four individuals listed above.
Stay tuned.
April, 2009
Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. It`s really easy! Subscribe to p2pnet.net | | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile – http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php
Net access blocked by government restrictions? Use Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Go here for details.
April 17th, 2009 at 7:57 am
Shameful!
Those in support of abuse of the law, ie: copyright lawsuit supporters, will be in their glory. I suspect some people will be scared to share files or use TPB, so the usage numbers may drop. Then there’s the other group, who will retort with extensive file sharing, offsetting those who are scared.
The result? Nothing new. Filesharing will continue. Like a weed, the more you remove, the more will spring up in their place.
The **AA groups should wise up, stop resisting, admit you can’t adapt to change and actually make a positive contribution to society and change! Make it legit! That alone, and sticking with it, will be enough to recoup your “losses” because your new “we were wrong, but now we’re on your side” image will change the minds and hearts of many. (not all, some are too bitter to ever support them). And of course STOP making a sham out of the legal system.
I fear for the ISP’s who are not in a positive financial situation. Those that are and have a pair, should stand up and fight back harder the TPB did. Ban together and put the **AA groups back where they belong!
Peace.
~Robert
April 17th, 2009 at 8:24 am
What a fucking surprise. This is what happens when the American government is totally infested with RIAA corruption and sets a really bad precedent.
Trust me, the appeals are gonna go all the way to the top and the RIAA pricks will win.
I just wonder how much denial the TPD admins can maintain when they’re sitting in jail?
April 17th, 2009 at 8:55 am
Beatrice Ask is likely behind all of this.
April 17th, 2009 at 10:01 am
its a sad sad day, i hope with this verdict that the community that threatened war during the trial are up in arms and that the war with the corperations is about to begin
April 17th, 2009 at 10:15 am
“The judge also stated that the usage of BitTorrent at The Pirate Bay is illegal. ”
I’m not sure I understand what the judge said here.
Is he saying using BitTorrent is illegal?
Using BitTorrent after finding a link via the pirates bay?
Using bittorrent with anything on the pirates bay?
Not sure I understand that statement, since we know some major publishers and journalists and writers upload their works royalty free to be shared in this mannor.
Are the artists themselves just as guilty since they put their stuff online to be copied via this method?
Maybe one of you regualr forum experts here can tell me what you think of this:
“The judge also stated that the usage of BitTorrent at The Pirate Bay is illegal. ”
Because I don’t think I understand it.
ty
April 17th, 2009 at 10:25 am
A torrent search site is guilty with “assisting” copyright infringement?
The ISP is just as guilty, then. So is Google, Yahoo!, and every other search site on the web. So are the companies that make scanners, CD burners, and copying machines.
This is ridiculous – it’s clear that the judges in these cases have no fucking clue how the internet even works.
April 17th, 2009 at 10:32 am
@R.W. above, this was clear from the start
April 17th, 2009 at 10:41 am
i am still in firm belief that the cartel’s had the judge on the payroll, i followed the trial like a hawk, and no judge in his right mind would side with the prosecution after all their mistakes, lack of understanding the technology, and the outright ignorance it displayed in showing hostility towards the judge not once but on several occassions.
April 17th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Actually I think they got off lightly.
April 17th, 2009 at 11:04 am
@devious204
Exactly, that’s why when everyone was laughing at the ineptness of the prosecution and claiming victory, I knew it premature.
I mean, for them to win after this really takes the piss out of the little guy and the Swedish courts and government, doesn’t it?
Trust me, the appeals will go all the way to the top… and the RIAA will win.
Everywhere you look around you, the net is closing in, what with ACTA, three strikes and the rest of the shit they throw at us.
April 17th, 2009 at 11:10 am
As discussed on a previous page, everyone’s reacting with panic over this when it’s not really over.
The Pirate Bay lawyer already stated they’re appealing, and that it may be a few years before this particular story is really over.
Whether or not the decision survives the appeals, you can be sure of 2 things:
1) You now have pretty solid proof of collusion between the Corporate Lobby and governments.
2) The labels are as good as dead anyway. Their business model is quite obviously dead, and they’ve engineered themselves into a dark empty void that will be swallowing them up soon enough.
April 17th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Som artists around seem to be happy with the verdict… “Respect our work – we want to be payed – a good day for artists” and so on… Well, the only thing that is now gonna happening is that sales from the Bigs Corps will plounge.. and I mean it. People have now realised that these companies dont want new business models, refuse progress, denie new technologies, and sue their own customers. (Even the deads) Artists and creators, youre getting screwed all the time and the only thing you say is “Thanks, do it one more time”… Now answer me one question: How much of that money the TPB crew is sentenced to pay will end in your pockets? Yes.. Keep dreaming while you support these big f… fat companies.. Because for my part, I wont buy anymore products from them, and Im sure a lot of other people will do the same. Today i just got enough of their shit…
April 17th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Once i get home from work, i am making a torrent of all my music, i am taking off all download links from my site, you will only be able to listen, i will also create a link that says, if you are interested in purchasing this music, click here, if not click here for the torrent, then i am uploading that torrent to the pirate bay
then once i find a pro bono lawyer, i am suing the FUCK out of the mafiaa for hurting my sales
April 17th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Personally, I think this whole thing’s going to change during appeal.
It will be brought up that such a decision would need to apply to ALL search engines, as well as ALL ISPs.
Though that’s certainly what the MAFIAA would want, it won’t happen.
You can’t make EVERYONE liable.
April 17th, 2009 at 11:20 am
I dont think the content providers realize the firestorm to come. Just like the music industry opened pandoras box when they smacked down Napster, so to will this generate a similar response. I didnt actively share content before and downloaded moderately, but you best believe I will become active now, offering all that I can and going out of my way to do so and we are talking terabytes. I am but one geek, so imagine the impact of me on an exponential scale with people like me who will be motivated to get off the sidelines. Evolve or die content Dino’s.
April 17th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Even if it is apealed We have to get rid off any RIAA/MPAA/entairtainment cartels exec and their lawers once and for all. We can not afford parasites in our society. Repression is not going to work.
Meanwhile I am hoping that the Vicking will respond appropriatly to this injustice and fire their governements
In any case it is not going to make us buy any music or movies or go to the music theater. On the contrary it will help us intensify the boycott.
I will discontinue my TV subsrciption. I just installed TOR and I will be uploading and seeding movies and music days and night.
April 17th, 2009 at 11:29 am
…fuck…
April 17th, 2009 at 11:38 am
“because your new “we were wrong, but now weâre on your sideâ”
Too late! we will never be on their side, we want them dead and we will get what we want because there is to many of us. We will be on the side of the next entairtainement industry that will be build
WITHOUT THEM!
April 17th, 2009 at 11:49 am
“Just like the music industry opened pandoras box when they smacked down Napster”
I remumber that many people warned them not to shut down Napster but since this entairtainement parasites ar of the same species than Bush and Sheney they did noty listen and it turned into an disaster. And still they did not learn the lesson and are diggin themselves in even further by comiting crime against our societies.
Since our governement are not doing their job to protect their citizen we have to do it and it is going to hurt.
Napster was the perfect 21st century solution for the renumeration the artists (but not the corporations of parasites) since it was centralised and since it was easy to monitor what was shared and to what extend and renumerate the artists accodigly via a glabal licence system. But Noooo! These criminals have to break it!
As far as I am concern this is a war the glove is off and we will take no prisonner.
April 17th, 2009 at 11:59 am
“At one point the judge was asked if he was concerned for his personal safety after handing down this decision. The judge said he hadnât received any harassment and was quite surprised at the question.”
My stuff is on bitorrent roaylaties free and this stupid judge have no right for makin MY STUFF! inaccesible to the public.
April 17th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
“Trust me, the appeals will go all the way to the top⦠and the RIAA will win.”
You are right we should start shooting all these parasites right now without waiting for the rest of the story.
We are not interested. The all thing is a parody of justice. No justice no peace.
April 17th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
âIn another step in its transformation from an online jumble of amateur videos to a destination for mainstream TV programs and movies, YouTube said Thursday that it had signed deals with Hollywood studios to showcase thousands of TV episodes and hundreds of movies on its Web site.â
this is why google dont get wacked
April 17th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
They’re trying to suppress file sharing, why not counter that by promoting file sharing? Anonymously of course. Burn some CDs full of MP3 files, or some DVDs full of the latest movies in AVI format. Along with the files, put a guide on how to download such stuff off the net. Write a little note on the envelope like “If you like these files, read GUIDE.TXT on the disc for instructions on how to download them yourself” and then leave these discs at bus stops, park benches, etc. Include a simple player on the disc for people who only have what Windows supplies. Also include a request that they pass on the disc after having copied the files.
In my experience, most people vaguely know that you can get movies off the net, but their knowledge of how to do so is limited to watching YouTube. Why not show them how to do it?
April 17th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
@devious204
If Jon will let you, post your website addy…..I’ll support your effort anyway I can
Meanwhile, this MIGHT cause a hickup in filesharing, but it wont be much, or long either!!
Copyfight & stw
April 17th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
@ NO1UNO and devious204
No worries. As long as it’s links to music, go for it.
Cheers!
April 17th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Funny i never heard so much angst since the smug people on the Afterdawn website got upset when the country of Finland where their website is located changed the copyright law and people could not download dvd decypter anymore among other things.I really liked Piratebay.I liked downloading expensive application programs that i had no intentions of buying.This might be safer than wasting my time downloading movies or music.Maybe the people at TPB should have been more low key. IT DON’T PAY TO BE COCKY……………..
It will surely bite them in the ass.People can complain all they want but copyright theft is illegal in most civilized countries and everything has it’s risks.They knew what they were doing.
I DON’T FEEL SORRY FOR THEM…………….
April 17th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
TY Jon, now if devious204 comes back around we got game
April 18th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
well i`m not buying a f**king CD again ^^
April 18th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
we can live without the labels, but they can`t live without us ^^
April 19th, 2009 at 7:07 am
Fuck!!!
This shows the pressure of corporates upon the government!
Moreover the judges are technically illiterate…
What now?
boycott sony and WB? lol
April 20th, 2009 at 12:28 am
They’ve been on my boycott list ever since the sue’em started. When the MPAA started sue’em all, I stopped buying, renting, or even getting PPV for movies. I absolutely will not buy anything with the name Sony on it for hardware. They don’t get a dime from me.
As someone mentioned before, when Napster was stomped hard, wack-a-mole started. I suspect this will bring a lot of different new techs to the forefront, encryption will get started as a mainstay, you may see random port assignments as well as filtered IP numbers or substituted IP numbers, VPN may take off, the file sharing may good dark net, there are any number of possibilities including some no one has thought of yet, liable to be the end result of this court action, even if it is only temporary in judgment.
What is for sure is that file sharing will not die. As much as music is culture, so is sharing part of human nature. The only real thing that remains to be seen is what new directions this court action will bring about in the file sharing realm.
For myself, I don’t need the net to share. I know other ways. Ways that aren’t traceable back to you. For instance, it was discussed once before that while there might be problems with large sharing numbers, wifi without the net behind it, isn’t very traceable at present. It’s simply too local to be caught when you consider how big a geographical area that would have to be filtered to find each and every wifi that might be home router setup as a wifi hub.
Taking your external drive along with you to visit friends, leaves no IP number. What it does is offer is hundreds of gigs at your fingertips for swapping and is not limited to internet speeds, nor detectable on the internet if the internet is not used. WASTE is another option. While small in the number of people that could share simultaneously, they do so in security.
I too find it amazing the judge has not considered his own personal safety or that it is at issue. There are a lot of nuts out there in the world and some of them will no doubt take this as a personal affront. I myself am no threat to this judge. I have neither the will, the travel ability to be in the same local area, the motive that is intense enough to make a valid threat to him, nor the inside information to the judges’ movements. Nor do I want to know any of those details. I would assume with the range of people that are out there, many I am sure have to be using TPB services, that all will not be as I am. I do wonder if the judge has thought any of this out to it’s end conclusions. No doubt the judge is educated, most likely far better than I. If I can see the possibilities, surely he can.
I too feel there is a lot of stuff going on in the background that might not stand the light of day were everything known. It’s just a feeling going by what came out in the trial during its’ time and then to come up with this sort of decision just seems to smack of something not being on the level.
April 22nd, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Iâll be brief. I pirate and am not an evil person who will drain sociaty or corrupt your children,. I pirate because it brings joy in my life through game, movies, music, and whatever. I dont have money to pay for all the stuff I pi9rated, never will.
In a perfect sociaty everyone has equal opportunity. In america (real life) people do not have equal opportunity. I will explain: If I was born into a family with lots of money, im more likely to succeed then someone who was not. The location I live in the united states (what state) determines how far I can go in life. Lets be real about it now. One could argu well move to a higher populated, more industrious area. That means leaving friends and family for better oppurtunites, some choice. Itâs not an equal choice. One could say go to college if our not from a well financed family to compete in the market and better your life to buy things. If everyone went to college, then who woulld pump gas? Think about that. Society requires a tier of financial status based on ocupation. Everyone CANNOT earn high dollors or even be equal. Grunt work or hard labor = less pay cause people prefere not to do it and go to college to avoid that job like the plague.
So here I am tired of running the rat-race life, hunting for the âamerican dreamâ. You trade in 8 yrs for a âshotâ at getting better then average. Some make it some donât I dont see the point in even trying when I want to spend the time I have left enjoying life. Not working for some corporate people can make high yield on the dollor with my labor. Life is not fair so I make due with what I have.
No government will tell me I cannot download. Thats telling me I have to life without my happiness. I would rather slit my wrists then live in a zombie robotic world where im just another number. I will continue to download illegal file till the day I die!!
The FBI, IFPA, the MPAA, IPRED can al go to hell and Iâm not afraid to say it. Knock on my door, Iâll still download. Iâll stop when society presents a fairer option. Where companies arent allowed to hijack artists money and raise consumer prises to line there wallets. Iâll stop when it is âtruely am equal opportunity continant I live on. And I promise to stop the day I
June 14th, 2009 at 7:41 am
The idea that we ‘deserve’ this material to make us happy is retarded.
The idea that we should be able to get stuff we want for free is retarded.
The idea that we should have it because rich people have it is retarded.
Its practically stealing work that other people have worked damn hard to make. If you believe walking in to a shop and stealing stuff that makes you happy is right then go knock yourself out. But if you get caught then its YOUR fault, not anyone elses.
Just to make sure its clear, I’m not saying I haven’t downloaded copyrighted material. I’m just saying if I had and was caught then I shouldn’t blame the company for it. It would be MY fault.