Next up for Pirate Bay defendants: Italian trial?
Having just made it through a high-profile trial in their native Sweden, four men closely associated with The Pirate Bay may now have to face justice in Italy.
IDG is reporting that that country is now considering initiating its own prosecution of Peter Sunde, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Fredrik Neij, and Carl Lundström for alleged violations of Italy's copyright law. This would be the first criminal prosecution against the four Pirate Bay players outside their home nation.
On April 17, the four defendants were found guilty of having made copyright-protected files accessible for illegal file sharing via the Piratebay.org Web site, one of the most visited BitTorrent destinations in the world. All four were sentenced to a year in prison, and the group was fined the equivalent of $3.6 million.
The news stirred outrage and disbelief among fans, while those at big entertainment companies rejoiced. The defendants says they have filed an appeal.
In August of last year, as part of a crackdown of BitTorrent sites in Italy, Internet service providers there were ordered to block access to the Pirate Bay site. The Pirate Bay appealed the block and eventually won the court case.
But following the Swedish trial, according to IDG, at least one group representing Italian copyright holders is already expressing optimism that the outcome of the landmark Swedish case could benefit prosecutors in subsequent litigation.
"An acquittal in Sweden could have created difficulties for the Italian prosecution," Enzo Mazza, president of the Italian Music Industry Federation (FIMI), told IDG." The guilty verdict will strengthen the hand of the prosecutor in Italy."
But lawyers for Pirate Bay spokesman Sunde told the site TorrentFreak that Mazza might be expressing optimism prematurely.
"The Italian case has many different peculiarities, starting with jurisdiction issues, which make the Swedish decision much less relevant than it could seem at first glance," Francesco Paolo Micozzi and Giovanni Battista Gallus said. In addition, they added, "every decision is based on its own evidence, and in the Italian case the trial is yet to start."
Italian prosecutors will reportedly decide within the next few months whether they will proceed with legal action against the Pirate Bay four. We will of course keep you posted.
Leslie Katz, senior editor of CNET's Crave, covers gadgets, games, and most other digital distractions. As a co-host of the CNET News Daily Podcast, she sometimes tries to channel Terry Gross. E-mail Leslie. 
If you can't afford to buy it, don't blame the system - blame your inability to make a living.
I think he hit the nail on the head actually.
Also, start offering DVD Iso's for burning online, even if you insist that we use your 'industry standard' proprietary burning software! I would be MORE than willing to do that, as long as the program wasn't over 100MB's in size.
Thirdly, DROP DRM! The regular users have gotten smart and have realized that DRM is nothing more than an attempt to make people buy the same thing for multiple gadgets or to keep people from backing up their legally bought product so at some time in the future, you can make us buy it again, and we are NOT willing to do that. If we have to break the DMCA in order to put it on..... our iPod or iPhone..... so ******* be it! You come after us and we will start pushing back HARD, by not buying ANY of your products!
It wouldn't matter how much they charge.
People pirate useful apps that are only a few dollars.
he does make the point that DRM cripples legally bought software
even though I have a legal version of spore, the copy running on my computer is actually a pirated copy
the pirate version is far superior, no securom
However, anyone who illegally downloads a music file without paying money to the artist or his/her representative (ie buying the music) is essentially taking food out of my kids mouths. Anybody who excuses that or supports people like Pirate Bay is contributing to that theft while benefiting from the fruits of an artists labors by enjoying the music unfairly.
It would be easy for me to demand that a car manufacturer sell cars for just a buck because I would like it to be that way and I could afford it but the world doesn't work that way and the price of a car reflects the cost of production plus a resonable profit. Same with music except that the cost of production is far higher than the small cost of pressing the CD - the cost is the years of struggling to buy food and trying to get a break by artists who work for years to perfect their art for virtually no money at all.
Bet those who want to pay less (or nothing) for music would not think it reasonable for me to approach their employer and demand that their wages be halved or more.
No one likes the record companies and wish they would go away but in the end music prices are about paying artists a fair living and the Pirate Bay people were philosophically opposed to that because they actively promoted the free sharing of copyrighted music. They should be prosecuted.
Only in the US have the corporations taken over the government so that just payback for the draconian enforcement will last longer here.
Everyone is sick of it.
The problem is that the conviction of the Pirate Bay admins was based on faulty evidence and ignored a whole lot of other laws that made what these people did legal at the time. In fact, it is STILL legal by Swedish law.
The industries are just going to have to realize that if they do not offer their stuff at a FAIR price (i..e 5 bucks a DVD/CD)........ they are going to have people sharing 'illegallly' online.
Digital physical media, e.g. DVDs may have some sort of future if prices are cut, and indeed they are--original DVDs of back catalogs, which is what most people would look for on a lazy weekend--go for as little as $5.
But, the main issue is legal media downloads--how soon can this be made ubiquitous, and without funny stuff like what's available in one country isn't available for download right across the border. The Internet is global, os per country distribution policies won't work either.
They can take their copyright laws paid for with campaign contributions as put them you know where.
Some people just dont get it. Making copies of program of movies that are not yours is illegal.
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Apparently you don't get it either. It's NOT, I repeat, NOT illegal to make copies of movies, programs or music in any way, shape or form. Maybe the term "fair use" means nothing to you, but to the rest of us it means we can protect our investments.
*DISTRIBUTING* those copies is another matter.
Wouldn't it be nice if these paid shills had even one brain cell anywhere in their bodies?
This site is chock full of independant artists.
You can blather on all you want, but the plain fact is that pirates are losers. They just use the word pirate to make themselves feel 'righteous'. But they are just losers who can't afford to buy a DVD.
Here is a novel idea - WORK, EARN MONEY, BUY. It seems simple, but it is quite obvious that it is a foreign concept to a large number of you.
funny how you would probably never say this to the supposed 'starving artists' themselves. no, they should be able to make a living off of the consumer's money for doing their hobby. right, whatever. maybe they should get jobs as well, rather than spending all day smoking pot and playing with their guitar.
Entertainment industry is digging its own hole! Just open a movie download site where for a low monthly or per movie fee people can download all your movies, problem solved.
Do the right thing, get insulted for it. Do the wrong thing and be spared the insult. Talk about irony!
the internet is not subject to the petty squabbles and the laws of countries and greedy men.
- by andrew19ao May 4, 2009 9:07 AM PDT
- You should not be able to control anything online. Countries borders should not apply and if they want the Pirate Bay shut down it is the entire world's problem.
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