The Pirate Bay Appeal Verdict: Guilty Again
Written by Ernesto on November 26, 2010
http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-appeal-verdict-101126/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Torrentfreak+%28Torrentfreak%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+MailThe verdict against three people associated with The Pirate Bay just been announced. The Swedish Appeal Court found Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij and Carl Lundström guilty of “contributory copyright infringement” and handed down prison sentences ranging from 4 to 10 months plus damages of more than $6.5 million in total.
In April last year the Stockholm Court sentenced the ‘The Pirate Bay Four’ to one year in prison and a fine of $905,000 each. The defendants immediately announced that they would appeal the decision and the case went before the Appeal Court two months ago.
Today, Friday November 26, the Swedish Appeal Court announced its decision. Compared to the District Court ruling, the court has decreased the prison sentences for the three defendants, but increased the damages that have to be paid to the entertainment industries.
“The Pirate Bay has facilitated illegal file-sharing in a way that results in criminal liability for those who run the service. For the three defendants the court of appeal believes it is proven that they participated in these activities in different ways and to varying degrees,” the court stated.
The court did consider the individual input of all three, which resulted in varying prison sentences ranging from 4 to 10 months . The total damages of 46 million kroner ($6.5 million) will be equally shared among Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij and Carl Lundström.
brokep
Peter Sunde (born September 13, 1978) alias ‘brokep’
# Guilty of contributory copyright infringement
# 8 months in prison
# A share of the $6.5 million in damages
TiAMO
Fredrik Neij (born April 27, 1978) alias ‘TiAMO’:
# Guilty of contributory copyright infringement
# 10 months in prison
# A share of the $6.5 million in damages
Carl Lundstrom
Carl Lundström (born April 13, 1960)
# Guilty of contributory copyright infringement
# 4 months in prison
# A share of the $6.5 million in damages
The total damages are higher than in the District Court ruling. “This is because the court of appeal, to a greater extent than the district court, accepted the plaintiff companies’ evidence of its losses as a result of file-sharing,” the court noted.
All Nordic entertainment industry companies get the entire amount they asked for, and the remaining companies get about half of what they requested.
The fourth defendant, Gottfrid Svartholm, is not included in the verdict because he was absent at the court hearings due to medical circumstances. His case will be reviewed later.
From the verdict it also appears that the court chose for prison sentences to set an example, but that such sentences are generally not fit for copyright related violations.
“They’re giving us jail even though it’s not the right thing for the ‘crime.’ It’s just to scare people. That’s what you did in the 1600s…,” defendant Peter Sunde told TorrentFreak.
“This was a political trial from the start and it must be resolved politically,” Rick Falkvinge, leader of the Pirate Party said in a response to the verdict. “The public has lost all confidence in the justice system in these matters, and it is beyond sad that the courts still persist in running special-interest justice.”
Entertainment industry insiders, on the other hand, applauded the verdict. “It’s a relief that the court of appeal finally affirmed that you’ll be sent to prison if you carry out this type of activity,” movie industry lawyer Monique Wadsted said.
Although none of the defendants has officially commented on how to proceed, it is very likely that this will not be the end of the case. It is expected that it eventually will go all the way to the Supreme Court.
Defendant Peter Sunde told TorrentFreak that they are all appealing at the Supreme Court as soon as possible.
Whatever happens next, not much will change for the users of the popular BitTorrent indexer. The Pirate Bay website will remain online and operating as usual. None of the defendants are involved in the site anymore, and all assets are reportedly owned by the Seychelles based company Reservella.
