Pirate Bay founders win debt collection decision

Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi, Fredrik Neij, and Gottfrid Svartholm Warg.

(Credit: The Pirate Bay)

Media companies will struggle to grab any money owed by The Pirate Bay, as Sweden's official debt collector found that three of the four founders have "no attachable assets" in that country.

In April, a group of 13 media companies, including Warner Music Group and EMI, asked the Swedish government agency, commonly known there as the "bailiff," to collect more than 30 million Swedish Kronor, or about $4 million on their behalf.

This was the amount the media firms were awarded by a Swedish judge after finding four men associated with The Pirate Bay--Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi, Fredrik Neij, Gottfried Svartholm Warg, and Carl Lundstrom--guilty of copyright violations. The men were also sentenced to a year in prison.

But on Monday, the Swedish newspaper Di.se, reported that the bailiff can't find anything to collect for Neij, Warg, and Lundstrom. In addition and perhaps most importantly, the bailiff rejected claims made by the media companies that Reservella, the firm listed as the official owner of The Pirate Bay, is a shell company controlled by The Pirate Bay founders.

The decision by the bailiff might have more significance if the acquisition attempt by Global Gaming Factory X, the software maker and operator of Internet cafes, didn't appear doomed.

In June, Global Gaming announced it had agreed to pay about $8 million, half in cash and half in Global Gaming stock, for The Pirate Bay. Global Gaming CEO has said for weeks the deal would be completed by this Thursday. The transaction appears seriously threatened now after Swedish exchange officials halted trading in the company's stock on Friday over concerns about whether Global Gaming has adequate financing to complete the purchase. There is also a criminal investigation into possible insider trading involving the company's stock.

Questions have also been raised about the accuracy of some of the claims made by Global Gaming's CEO Hans Pandeya. One example is that he said he received a $10 million bid from Napster co-founder John Fanning, uncle of Shawn Fanning. The elder Fanning denied Pandeya's claim.

One part of the claims made by the entertainment industry is that the founders were the ones who negotiated with Pandeya and other Global Gaming leaders. Sources close to Global Gaming told CNET this weekend that Pandeya finalized the agreement with the founders.

According to Di.se, Pandeya has told the bailiff that he doesn't know who is behind Reservella. The major music labels have pressured Pandeya to turn over any money he pays for the site to them. The Pirate Bay's founders have denied owning The Pirate Bay since 2006.

The bailiff said it could not connect The Pirate Bay founders to Reservella and just because they oversaw negotiations, doesn't prove that Reservella is a dummy corporation, according to the report in Di.se.

Should Pandeya come up with the money for The Pirate Bay, it's unclear whether the music and film industries could require him to turn it over to them.

[meneval]

What on earth are you trying to say? Is the English language now just another study you disdain? Your story is full of sentence structure problems, (as well as countless other gramatical incongruities) causing your reporting to fail to explain in a logical manner what is going on.It's not even techno language, it's just simply disjunct. I could go on, but to suffice it to say that your rambling report is totally insufficient. It would take someone enamored of bizarre puzzles to figure it out.

We're all inurred to your Tech Specific snobbery in the workplace, but your "bully tool" is useless in real-life communication, and your babble is simply wasted.

Take courses in Communication - and while you're at it - GROW UP!.

- Robert F Sonnekson

[Mergatroid Mania]

Huh? *** are you talking about? I had no trouble whatsoever understanding this story. I failed to see any of the "countless other gramatical incongruities" you are referring to. (Of course, if you're really referring to English, then grammatical should have two m's).

I believe it is not the author who has some growing up to do. Of course, having spoken the language all my life I have no trouble understanding it. Perhaps you could find an English course? The odd thing is, I find your comment just as easy to read as the authors. Did you get your mommy to write it for you?

[Michichael]

Hmm, I think I shall pull out an old standby response:

lolwut?

[renGek]

Article is pretty straight forward to me. Not sure where these countless grammatical errors are. Meneval's comment however has several spelling errors and incorrect punctuation usage. I especially love his ironic comment "we're all inurred to your tech specific snobbery"....aside from misspelling inured, doesn't it take a snob to use inured in a sentence in this context?

But if he is so unhappy with the writer perhaps he should email him directly rather than hide behind a comment.

[mookdaruch]

I must say congradulations on your total ass whooping Mergatroid Mania.

[sandonet]

To those of you that are standing up for the story, thanks much.

As for Sonnekson, if the early posts were too sloppy, I apologize. I'm just trying to get information up as fast I can. I thought I and our copy desk corrected the errors fairly quickly but I'll do my best to be more careful. I'm just happy you didn't cap on my mustache. ;)

[Bob_Bunderfeld]

This is classic. The Swedish Courts turn a blind eye to their own law because of the bullying tactics of the US Government and Industry so the Swedish Bailiff's make up for it claiming the owners are Destitude.

You have to admit, the Swede's know how to make things come out even!

[gertruded]

The days of American corporations bullying others is coming to and end. The American banksters have seen to that. The US is in decline will never be the same again. I think the Swedish courts know this.

[knowles2]

shame did not someone tell the media guys that Sweden central capital of the world for hiding money and font companies, all they would of had to do is speak to there own accountants after all or just find where there own money is kept or where they send the American Senators checks every year.

Whole well it look like to 2 - 2 so far the media groups two victories are still being debated with in the court system so it could still end up complete victory by the pirates.

[Ryan_Spahn]

This story just keeps getting better and better. Will there be a Hollywood movie soon? They'd be able to recoup the money they said they've lost.

[richto]

LOL at spent millions and Pirate bay is still up.

[Internet-Lawyer]

While i don't think that the founders will be able to hide their assets for long, few Internet companies give much thought to building a liability strategy into their corporate form. As an <a href="http://www.web20lawyer.com">Internet Lawyer</a> i see too many internet companies give more thought to their short terms SEO strategies then to how to insulate themselves from future lawsuits.