Pirate Bay defendants found guilty
Pictured, from left, are Pirate Bay defendants Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, and Gottfrid Svartholm Warg. Carl Lundström is not pictured.
(Credit: Pontus Alexander/Fabian Landgren)This story has been updated. See below for details.
A Swedish court on Friday found the four defendants in the high-profile Pirate Bay case guilty, sentencing each to a year in jail. The defendants were also ordered to pay a total of 30 million Swedish kronor ($3.6 million) in damages to copyright holders, among them a number of American media giants.
The four men--Peter Sunde, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Fredrik Neij, and Carl Lundström--were found guilty of having made 33 copyright-protected files accessible for illegal file sharing via the Piratebay.org Web site.
"The crime has been committed in a commercial and organized form," Judge Tomas Norström said in a Web broadcast from a press conference in Stockholm.
Warg and Neij are the founders of The Pirate Bay. Sunde is a programmer and a spokesman there, and Lundström offered technical services to the site in 2005.
The Web site--one of the most visited BitTorrent destinations in the world--offers a search engine for torrents that can be used for file sharing. It also offers a tracker, which is a server that keeps file swappers linked.
After a 13-day trial, judge Tomas Norström, plus his assistant and three namndeman (essentially a jury with extended powers), found ample evidence for a guilty verdict, though no actual files are stored on the Web site.
As a result of a civil claim filed alongside the criminal case, the four men will have to pay $3.6 million in compensation for lost sales to 17 media companies. Among them are Warner Bros. Entertainment, MGM Pictures, Columbia Pictures Industries, Twentieth Century Fox Film, Sony BMG, Universal, EMI, Blizzard Entertainment, Sierra Entertainment, and Activision.
The largest portion of that total is allotted to Twentieth Century Fox ($1.3 million), followed by Columbia Pictures ($504,000) and Warner Bros. ($300,000).
The four defendants have already vowed to appeal the verdict, and it could take years before the case reaches Sweden's Supreme Court.
"This is a victory for the prosecutor so far, but this is just the first round," said Jonas Nilsson, the defense attorney for Fredrik Neij, according to Swedish News Agency TT. The $3.6 million in damages is extreme in a Swedish case, Nilsson told TT.
Update 3:40 a.m. PDT: Added comment from the judge and a defense attorney, plus a breakdown of the largest portions of the $3.6 million in damages.
Update 6:48 a.m. PDT: Lundström's attorney, Per E. Samuelsson, has sent his appeal to a higher court, Svea hovrätt, according to Swedish Public Radio SR.
See also:
• Copyright holders cheer verdict
• Pirate Bay defendants to fight on
Information will be kept free regardless. It's like the old saying (which we are trying to break): "The printed word is only as free as those who control the presses."
Google has to abide by the DMCA... while TPB doesn't (well apparently they do now).
TPB never ever has to comply with the DMCA. That's because they're not American, and don't operate under US Law. They were convicted under Swedish Law.
Either way, the information in your reply is very information to those who may not understand.
Did Napster being closed down stop copying - NO, will this - No.
Even if all online copying was stopped people would just go back to copying via CD/Memory sticks.
Hopefully, the shutdown of Pirate Bay will finally convince the entertainment companies to set up international download stores for video programming that works with video-enabled iPods and other video-enabled portable media players.
Im not sure what you mean by this and maybe im just understanding you wrong here but why do you think "someone" would need to find another way? another way for what? What has happened here has very little impact on torrents in general. They had links and junk etc. to torrents, say if TPB goes away (not saying it is or isnt) there are as stated by some above other places to find torrents google, isohunt etc., so its not like a way to get torrents is dead. Again im not not sure what the heck your trying to say here and again maybe its just me not understanding what your saying.. TPB wasn't in anyway even close to how Napster worked back in the day. Yes, when they went down someone else had to step in but with TPB people will just go to other sites that have the same things so what gap do you speak of?
@sythara: TPB is still up, if you need a torrent website, just google it.
Ummm... NO. I think some people are confused about what was on TPB and torrents in general or how they work. Please read up on that before making a uninformed comment. I fail to see how TPB closing(???) will truely hurt the way torrents work. TPB wasnt a solo vital part in the torrent "file sharing system". It was just a place alot of people when to but that wasnt and isnt the only sorce for torrents...
Now if your talking about a legal way to download stuff then yes, what you say is fine.
The media companies of the world need to adapt or die, but it would not necessarily be a bad thing if they did go the way of the dinosaur. They pump so much crap into the market just for the sake of making a quick buck and gullible brain dead masses just lap it up.
Independent artists can only survive if they are really up to scratch, and their 'communities' will look after them if they really appreciate their work.
This is analogous to the Open Source Software movement where good software survives and is improved into something much greater, and rubbish code rots on a derelict computer on a rubbish heap some place.
Actually that's what is happening in most indy scenes. After several years listening "underground" bands I've noticed that there is no decline in the number of new bands neither there is a decline in the willingness to experiment and explore new boundaries in music. Actually now there is a explosion in new bands, and actually there are a lot of bands that are not clones and are quite good, specially in the USA. So far part is thanks to the technology. palpay allows them to sell using credit cards, myspace & last.fm give them free publicity and companies like cdbaby allows them to sell their music to the world via CD or mp3 files. And the WWW allows them to be in contact with their fans.
They never had the support of the mainstream music industry. Mainstream industry music never did support new bands neither created them. If you remember every famous or influential band of the past, they created themselves first, later they were "discovered" by the music industry.
The Beatles, Black Sabbath, Led Zepellin, the Doors, Prince, etc. And since the beginning music industry tried to steal musicians. Remember the Prince case? Why do you think he "gave" away his last record for "free"? Why Madona does not have a new contract with any mainstream company?
Because they have realised that they are the ones who created the $$$ and are the ones who are actually being robbed by mainstream music industry.
I just wonder how many people have read about this case in the news - it made front page of the BBC - and have decided to pay them a visit?
Those people who support the likes of The Pirate Bay should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. The world does not owe you a free lunch.
Your argument is flawed.. YouTube has a number of ads on each page you view. They are starting to embed ads in videos and they just announced that by the end of this year they will pretty much be modeled after hulu. So, say good-by to your free videos of kids getting whacked in the nuts doing something dumb on their RipStik, and singing cats playing the piano, and say hello to last nights episode of House... brought to with limited commercial interruption.
The point is if Google changed its name and advertised itself as LOLpirateOOGLE then they would be liable. If they refused take down noticed then they loose the "safe harbor" (no pun intended) and face some lawsuits.
That is a specious argument.
What I do find shameful are pathetic losers like you who think that you're morally better than everyone because you hide your skeletons in your closet. What do you do that others might not approve of, or do you consider yourself perfect like a God?
rofl
lol!!!
The attitude 'Only poor people and freeloaders download illegal stuff' only shows ignorance. Or shows you work for a corporation making over priced content that's not selling well and are looking for someone to blame.
P.S. Theft is not Copyright Infringement. Troll bait tastes good too.
Have a nice day!
Case in point: a discussion of the merits of downloading content considered protected by copyright law in one country and not protected in the same way in another country is a good discussion. A discussion on the corruption and amalgamation of copyright law for public and private benefit is a good discussion.
You've characterized even this discussion as illicit and representative of inferior moral character (i.e., calling our comments "scum-bags posting"). But the discussion is what is the most legal part of the U.S. society (as this is a U.S.-based publication and primarily U.S. audience), unless you've taken both the Patriot Act and the Bush Doctrine to new extremes. I'm not knocking our former President but know how pernicious these approcahes to law and comments like yours can be.
Further, I support TPB's challenge to the DMCA, and U.S. copyright law as our laws have no bearing on how others should behave in their respective country. For example, the Chinese government does not recognize U.S. copyright laws yet the DOC, the FTC, the State Department, and millions of U.S. businesses continue to build economic relationships with them and their citizens even though pirating is of media is more prevalent through many Chinese-based servers (Log Logic Report, 2008).
An easier example for you to understand would be: if you drive 45mph on a California highway then it is legal (although unadvised). But if you drove 45mph (~72kph) on the Autobahn, then you would be arrested for hazardous driving. Similarly, if you drove 150kph (~94mph) on any highway in the U.S. -- even Montana -- then you would be arrested, and some states shot, for reckless endangerment.
The point here is that so many people (in and out of the U.S.) have issues with copyright law. Now is the time for each of us to start making changes so that there is a better balance of fair use and commerce.
I guarantee that you infringe on someones copyright every day.
Sorry, I didn't realize lkrupp was God and therefore not only perfect in every way but also better than us lowly humans. No, I'm not sorry! Eat fertilizer!
Corporations are to blame because most of this problems are happening because they don't know how to adapt to the new business model that internet has brought.
They used to have the monopoly of music distribution, and they abuse and profit a lot from that monopoly. Now internet & computers broke that monopoly. New technology allows indy bands to record an album that sounds good without spending a lot of money. Myspace of last.fm give them free publicity. PalPay allows them to sell their products using credit cards. And companies like klicktrack or cdbaby help them to sell their mp3 files to the world. Why you can buy mp3 files from anywhere in the world from cdbaby but YOU CAN'T BUY IT FROM THE AMAZON MP3 STORE? Because music industry is afraid of losing control, so they don't let amazon sell mp3 files to the rest of the world.
At the end illegal downloading might kill music industry, but it will not kill music. New bands will keep releasing their music. New boundaries in music will be explored. But the mainstream music industry is becoming irrelevant, even pop stars like Prince of Madonna don't use them any more.
[CNET editors' note: Prohibited content deleted.]
Stealing is not Copyright Infringement.
So you mean that if I wouldn't have paid for it otherwise, then it would be ok? Great!!
You theory is as old as dirt and about as delicious.
SausageBiscuit --- you can try to dress it up with whatever quaint verbiage you want, but when you take something without paying, it's stealing. It's not right, and no amount of b/s is going to make it that way.
You make a copy. You don't take something. Please get it out of your head that somehow theft or stealing has occurred. Copyright Infringement is not stealing, or theft, or whatever else you want to call it.
Also, I never state my views on if it is morally or legally correct to infringe on copyright.
The question is would they have paid for it if it wasn't available for free. The answer is not always yes.
It's not theft, theft is the act of taking property from the owners possession, thus depriving them of it. Making a copy does not satisfy the definition. Doing as lkrupp suggests does though.
Once you are capable of understanding that equation, you'll see how idiotic your statement is.
Wait, someone has thought of that. It's called the iTunes Store, and its the number one digital media store in the world, and I buy my stuff there.
P.S. THEFT/Stealing is not the same as Copyright Infringement. Please read. Yes they are crimes, but please stop comparing the two. It's like the guys who compare Apple computers to PCs.
Not the people, corporations.
That's the thing it's not like anything else. It's not like a car or a house, it's intangible and in the case of digital infinitely reproducible. If a good is infinite it's marginal cost is zero and it's price will push toward zero.
"There's no opting out of it just because you *feel* that infringement doesn't hurt anyone."
Sure there is, it's called piracy.
" family of mine worked for an outfit called Epyx - a game publisher in the US. It was highly successful, but was knocked out by piracy. If like 10% of the people who had the games bother to buy them they would be bigger than EA today."
Others would disagree. http://www.fomalhaut.de/c64.shtml#interview
"Epyx went bankrupt because it never really understood why it had been succesful in the past, and then decided to branch out in a lot of directions, all of which turned out to be failures."--Stephen Landrum lead programmer at Epyx
Piracy is often blamed, but usually isn't the real reason a company goes under. In the case ofEpyx it was poor management and lack of focus.
Piracy is not "opting out" of copyright. It's a violation. The system applies worldwide, while a pirate chooses to violate it, the laws still apply to the pirate.
That a bit of contradiction from the previous statement, "IP is a type of property just like anything else. It's in the US constitution and accepted worldwide."
I wouldn't say " very few things are based on possession of physical goods.".
"Copyright extends to actual expressions, like a picture or a music file, not intangibles like thoughts or feelings."
Not all expressions are tangible. Speech is not tangible yet it is a form of expression. The pattern of bits that make up that music file are not tangible though they can be stored or send on or through a tangible medium.
"Just because you can make a copy without depriving the copyright holder of their copy doesn't change much."
Clearly it changed something or we wouldn't be having this conversation. In at least one case it's called into question the damages copyright infringement.
"Sounds like you've never made anything someone else actually wanted to copy."
You can think that if you want, but you'd be wrong.
An artist buys a $2,000 guitar, a $1,000 amplifier, spends his life practicing, writing songs, living in a van living off of dollar-menu food. He/she saves cash and books some studio time or buys recording gear to record some songs. He spends months getting everything just right, puts it on Myspace & Facebook and gets a strong reception. He pitches it to record companies pursuing his lifelong dream of becoming a rock star... but the record companies aren't biting. Sales are down, and they are giving less money to fewer acts. So the artist ends up working a day job the rest of his life while the 975 remaining copies of what was a very good CD rot in a box in his attic.
That is what you ignorant fools with your sense of entitlement are doing - you are killing the artist.
How would you like it if someone walked into your job and just grabbed the french fries from you and walked off without paying?
This is what I do to support them, go to their concert, buy their merchandise, put the money directly in their hand. It's the only way they're going to see it all anyway.
rickhigginshtbr is right.
By the way, stealing and/or theft is not copyright infringement. Please stop calling this something it is not.
Most of the bands I listened fall in that category and most of them DON'T HAVE ANY MAJOR CONTRACT SIGNED.
Like I wrote now they can sell directly their music to you. Most of the music I buy is in that way. I pay directly to them via paypal. Some of them even have their own small record labels.
If they have a strong reception they can release their own record with several new companies, like cdbaby.
Actually I'm surprised because music in general is very, very alive. :)
a true artist will continue to live in the van, living off of the money people WOULD give him for performances (if he is any good), and finding meaning in their life through the joy of seeing people enjoy the music they create.
this loser you describe with dollar bill signs in their eyeballs. please. that's why the music industry is crap.
Declining CD sales in favor of lower margin paid downloads and subscription and investment in fewer artists in fewer genres are more to blame than piracy for the decline of labels.
We're in the middle of a digital revolution, and the old guard is going to hold on to their power as long as they can. I encourage everyone to keep fighting, we are destined to win....
What happened to Bernie and Kevin was an outrage. Anyone who kept up with that should have a deep mistrust for the judicial system in this country. Where people can get out on bail for murder, Kevin spent years in jail awaiting the most basic of a trial. Bernie being denied medical attention for a broken arm... there should have been a lawsuit for that one!
people must realize that prosecution of those offenders are parts of entertainment giants' revenues, because they already know conviction of those offenders won't convert illegal downloaders into legal copy buyers, and those buying legal copies continue to seek cheaper alternative (like dropping premier channel in favor of watching free, legal online stream videos, like Lulu, or renting via netflix, which costs only a portion to that of conventional movie renting. Their revenues are set to decline.
Of course, I could get it from Amazon US and pay the extra shipping, and also get my DVD player chipped, but I shouldn't have to. Besides, the industry tried to make chipping DVD players illegal a few years ago.
I'm supposed to wait that long for it to come out? Why?
And not only that, but then I have to think about whether the copy protection will recognise my player (or PC if I'm watching it on my laptop), and whether I'll be able to make a backup copy (which in the UK I have the right to do).
It's not just bad, it's insulting. Seriously, the only explanation I can think of is that for some reason the industry wants their stuff to be pirated.
Besides, while I'm not a lawyer I can think of a number of areas of varying shades of grey where something that is ostensibly pirated could fall under the fair use policy.
While in prison I hope they make a movie and try to distribute it.
They all think that stealing is the same thing as copyright infringement. Every post they show up with something like "LOL STOP STEALING OR I'LL TELL UR MOMS!!!"
Most U.S. companies assert that their take-down notices are also copyright protected and thus not available for public review. It is a method to keep an already questionable exercise of the law from being revoked in a timely manner. TPB's interpretation of the Swedish laws allows them to have an open discussion of the notices.
Lastly, TPB's motive appears purely commerical in nature. They seem to be doing their work motivated by advertising dollars. The money to keep TPB running comes from ad dollars. I personally don't believe that their underlying argument is a sincere challenge or support of a change in copyright laws (U.S. or otherwise). I believe they are doing what many of the media companies and others throughout history have done: <i>taken advantage of individual's desires to produce a product (media) or to consume a product (intangible or not).</i>
There are many examples apart from the current case where a company(ies) have taken advantage of unrefined areas of the law but where there exists high volume of usage/consumption. Examples could include:
-- lax tax enforcement on ecommerce sales - allows the web-based companies to grow and consumers to avoid paying taxes. Still illegal but being allowed for now.
-- alcohol companies pre & post-prohibition production of grain alcohols - historical records and interviews have shown that individuals and companies (e.g., Canadian) were already producing alcohol being consumed by U.S. citizens prior to the repeal of prohibition.
-- federal contracts; U.S. drug consumption;...
TPB looks like their trying to take advantage of that maw between what we as (U.S.) consumers and citizens consider illegal and what activity we still want to engage in (consumption of media).
Take off your U.S. thinking cap and put on your human thinking cap about what is a balance between human behavior and promulgation of economic interests.
Jails in Scandinavia are not like USA jails. They are more like 3 stars hotels. Very comfortable. No overpopulation. They take care of your needs and so on.
Actually a real punishment could be they being sent to India and forced to live like dalits... or being sent to a Russian jail.
That's why they are so defiant. They know is not really such a big deal.
About the fine, I don't know. Maybe there are a law in Sweden that forces to gov. to pay is the citizen is unable or unwilling. After all, it's Sweden. ;)
The thing is, ten years from now nobody will care about TPB, but they will still have this on their records. Good luck finding work.
- by JDubbFromGraySt April 17, 2009 6:00 AM PDT
- If I had your guys e-mail address' I would totally e-mail you my sincere gratitude, and even if you get a year in jail it was worth it we both know that. Nice fight against American Media, now just fight the system like an American!
- Like this Reply to this comment
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Showing 1 of 4 pages (170 Comments)All I know is that these media giants need to suck it up if they want people to keep using their products. We don't like giving money to corporate America when they shove it back in our face.