Posts tagged as:

jail

Pirate Bay in Court – Facing £1.8 Million Fine and Jail

by Jay Garrett on February 16, 2009

piratesPirate Bay co-founders, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde (both pictured), Fredrik Neij and Carl Lundström, a donor to the site, face up to two years in prison if convicted in the most high-profile anti-piracy case in recent years.

They’re pleading that their activities are legal under Swedish copyright laws, because Pirate Bay does not host copyrighted content but simply are acting as a search engine for the torrents and direct users to copies of music and films to download.

The company has also denied making large profits from the site.

Needless to say that music and film companies disagree to the point of demanding 120 million kronor (£1.18 million) in compensation and damages.

The plaintiffs include Warner Bros Entertainment Inc., MGM Pictures Inc., Colombia Pictures Industries Inc., 20th Century Fox Films Co., Sony BMG, Universal and EMI.

The case started back on May 31, 2006, when police raided 10 different locations in central Sweden, seizing servers and computer equipment and temporarily shutting down the site.

What do you think?

Innocent or guilty to breaching Copyright?

 

Telegraph

{ 3 comments }

Pirate Bay could be Scuppered!

by Jay Garrett on January 31, 2008

Pirate-bay-logoThe founders of The Pirate Bay, one of the best directories for BitTorrents, have been broadsided by charges of conspiracy to break copyright law in their homeland, Sweden.

Before now they’ve managed to dodge anything like this as they don’t actually hold any dodgy stuff on their server – instead they just act as a go-between.

The 4 are having their collars felt because they’re making money through copyrighted material – not by selling anything but through ads on the site. 

The Swedish authorities have long been under pressure from major record companies and film studios to clamp down on The Pirate Bay’s activity.

Plaintiffs in this new case include Warner, Columbia Pictures, MGM, EMI and Universal.

If they’re found guilty they will go down for 2 years each. They say they’re not causing any harm.  I think I’ll leave that to the Judge.  What do you reckon?

{ 0 comments }