Pirate Bay Managers Indicted in Copyright-Infringement Case
Managers of file-sharing site charged with enabling copyright infringement.
By: Justin Bourne
Posted: 01/31/2008
STOCKHOLM, Sweden
- Four men identified as managers of file-sharing site
The Pirate
Bay, which provides a search engine for BitTorrent files, were indicted
Thursday on charges of copyright infringement.
Hans Fredrik Neij, Per Svartholm Warg, Peter Kolmisoppi and
Carl Lundström were indicted for running The Pirate Bay.
According to charges filed by senior public prosecutor Håkan
Roswall, the site "promotes other people's infringements and breaching of
copyright laws."
The charge sheet consists of 33 cases involving alleged
copyright infringement. Twenty of the cases involve music, nine involve movies,
and four involve computer games.
Roswall pointed out dozens of works that had been illegally downloaded
through The Pirate Bay, including The Beatles' "Let It Be," Robbie Williams' "Intensive
Care" and the movie Harry Potter and the
Goblet of Fire.
Warner Bros., Colombia Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Sony BMG,
Universal and EMI claim that The Pirate Bay is responsible for hosting the illegal
files, though the site's managers say otherwise.
According to Roswall, The Pirate Bay nets close to $4
million annually from advertising on its site, which currently tracks 1 million
BitTorrent files, has 2.5 million registered users and has had more than 10
million users downloading files simultaneously.
Roswall is seeking confiscation of all computers used by the
indicted men and has asked that the company pay Sweden about 1.2 million kronor
($185,000).
According to The Local, evidence
gathered by Roswall includes information provided by the suspects and from
interviews with staff at the International Federation of the Phonographic
Industry and Sweden's
Anti-Piracy Agency, a non-governmental organization representing the
entertainment industry.
Roswall also has cited email correspondence and documents that detail data traffic.
While Roswall has declined to comment on the charges, Ludvig Werner, managing
director of the IFPI, said he is pleased with the way the case is progressing.
"It is very satisfying that the prosecutor shares our view
that The Pirate Bay's activities are illegal and has brought charges
accordingly," Werner said in a statement. "Sweden has developed an
unflattering reputation as a sanctuary for Internet pirates. The trial is going
to generate a lot of interest worldwide."
Magnus Eriksson, a spokesman for Piratbyrån, a group that lobbies in support of
file sharing, predicted that The Pirate Bay will endure the trial, even if a
guilty verdict is returned.
"The Pirate
Bay is not going to be
down for a single minute," he told The
Local. "The Pirate
Bay is now established in
a number of countries, so there's no one place in which to push the ‘off'
button."
Eriksson said he would be surprised if the site's managers were convicted of
the alleged offenses.
"In the course of the investigation, there have been attempts to bring up
various things that The Pirate Bay has supposedly been guilty of," he said. "Before
it was financial crime, and now this accessory thing seems to be the last straw
for the prosecutor."
