IFPI Demands Millions From The Pirate Bay
Written by Ernesto on March 31, 2008The IFPI has announced that it demands $2.5 million from the Pirate Bay in the upcoming court case, to cover the damages they suffered from 24 music albums that were made available on the popular BitTorrent tracker.
Pirate Bay’s Brokep was not impressed by the claims from IFPI and said: “I thought April fools day was tomorrow. We should send IFPI an invoice instead. All studies show that downloading generates more revenue when it comes to music. Downloaders also consume music in other ways and generate more revenue in total.”
The $2.5 million IFPI asks for, represent the lost revenue for every download. Interesting detail, all the (leaked) albums that were shared before they were available in stores are counted twice. They could have quadrupled it if they wanted to, the damages are not based on research anyway.
This January, prosecutor HÃ¥kan Roswall had already asked the court for a $188,000 fine for four individuals - Fredrik Neij (”TiAMO”), Gottfrid Svartholm (”Anakata”), Peter Sunde (”Brokep”) and businessman Carl Lundström. The MPA and AntipiratbyrÃ¥n, the other two parties involved in the case are expected to file damages later.
The legal investigation into the Pirate Bay started almost two years ago, after the controversial raid on the Pirate Bay in May 2006. At the time the Swedish police confiscated 180 servers, most of which had nothing to do with the BitTorrent tracker. Last December the investigation finally came to an end, resulting in 4,000 pages of legal paperwork.
It will probably take a while before the case actually goes to court. Anita Thimberg from the Stockholm district court has said earlier that the case is likely to be delayed until after the summer due to its “complexity”.
Stay Tuned!
Previously: ISP To Voluntarily Disconnect File-Sharers, Offers Free Usenet
Next: The Pirate Bay Moves to Egyptian Desert Island
46 Responses
Good luck and have fun.
I bet they will lose in cort
they wont get a dime.
hoist the flags!
I wonder how much the IFPI are willing to pay to get a guilty verdict? Anyone know?
I think Sweden seems too sane for this; the dinosaur mafIAA might actually have to prove, on a dollar-to-dollar basis, that specific customers were willing to pay for the music and would have paid for the music, but because of the services provided by the pirate bay did not pay for the music; good luck!!
I can see it now:
“Achtung! All college-students, pirates, and freedom advocates; we request your immediate presence at court, and your testimony that if only the pirate bay didn’t exist you would have bought any number of these 22 songs; your co-operation in this matter of fining and jailing those who were arrogant enough to legally share music with you will be smiled upon by us; you will not be richly rewarded, however.”
“Ach! Actually, maybe we will richly reward you; come one, come all! Testify against the piratebay and we’ll give you a stuffed dinosaur and a free I-bought-the-law-and-the-law’s-son bumper sticker!!!”
…yeah, that’d never work.But.
GO RON PAUL !!! He’s still in the race and he won’t drop out!
Probably more than 2.5M. They gotta put some money back in the economy or all their money will be worthless.
You know, I said that they would lose before and they prevailed so I have no idea how this will turn out.
LIES, I SMELL APRIL FOOLZ
[quote comment="324830"]LIES, I SMELL APRIL FOOLZ[/quote]
This is real unfortunately
The April fools joke is on the TPB frontpage…
conspiracy april foolz?
I’m suprised they haven’t done it earlier. I’m think there’s a chance they’ll win considering the Swedish government’s recent actions.
indeed 2.5 mill split 1400ish ways.
Yup thats worth it…
Have fun wasting more money then you will ever see from TPB trying to beat p2p…
the case delayed until summer and IFPI already demands money . they really though they sure win . probably the money is used to paid politician .
Remember, the case will not only be delayed until after summer. This will go all the way through the swedish legal system with appeals etc. regardless of the outcomes, so it will take 2-3 years at least before final verdict.
I would bet if, and that’s a big if the IFPI get any money, the artist will see none of it.
wow what idiots.. they really think they have a case? either the judge wants to set a precedent or the prosecutor thinks they have a case….which obviously they don’t under Swedish law…. but who knows… stranger things have happened……
They might as well demand ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS! What a bunch of asshats..
*raises pinky finger to mouth*
I demand 90 trillion dollars.
lol @17.
That seems applicable here.
I demand 10 million euros for making me hear and see their propaganda shit .
Or I’ll sue
[quote comment="324992"]*raises pinky finger to mouth*
I demand 90 trillion dollars.[/quote]
I wish the IFPI and their extortion racket the very best of luck. Really. I do.
I just can’t wait to see them attempt to prove that *every single* user who downloaded an album would have PURCHASED IT FOR FULL PRICE AT RETAIL if it weren’t available from a torrent. Or for that matter, prove that The Pirate Bay is any more liable for copyright infringement than Yahoo and Google are.
Considering that they keep trying to sue TPB over things that *don’t break Swedish law*, how long will it be before the terrorist oragnization, IFPI, ends up in hot water with the court system, and/or finds itself on the losing end of an aggrevated harassment suit?
I thought 24 albums would cost around $300, but 2.5 million, thats a premium rate.
They better be very special CD’s.
What a load of bollocks, really. Have these PirateBay lads commited any offence here? Were they the ones who distributed the copywritten content?
I think not.
The media companies will do whatever they can to harrass the PirateBay because they just fucking hate them. It’s almost symbolic now, they HAVE to beat them some way or another, not that it’ll even have any noticable effect on file-sharing activities if they do.
I respect TPB for apparently keeping a cool head throughout all this as I doubt I could/would.
This case has far-reaching ramifications. While there are precedents for servers being forced to shut down, there still isn’t a globally accepted view of the legality of torrent sites. It’s all a bit worrying that the final judgment will be that of just one old bastard. He may throw out the case, but maybe he’ll want to make a name for himself by closing TPB. Maybe he has friends in the music business.
I’m quite pessimistic about this. It’s only a matter of time before certain countries decide that file-sharing IS illegal, even if the majority of users don’t think it is immoral.
I wish companies would understand that piracy is just second nature.
IFPI, I demand that you close down your offices. That will easily save you $2.5 millions per year. And you will not need to worry about future losses anymore.
IFPI, I demand that you fire yourself and get a job, you lazy bunch. If you think you can get your money from those who don’t earn enough anymore to buy music, you are wrong.
IFPI, I demand that you take deregulation to heart and save the money you spend on yourself. Give it back to the creatives who actually make music.
IFPI, I demand that you give back the 80 million recorded CDs/DVDs and the 60 million unrecorded CDs/DVDs that you seized in 2005. It just drives the market price for recording media, which makes us download even more on HD.
IFPI, I demand that you give up on your intellectual property claims. Intellectual property crime is used to fund terrorist groups, as stated by Ronald Noble, Secretary General of Interpol, July 2003.
All this can be concluded from or read in http://www.tradingideas.org/UserFiles/File/Presentations/Session5_Leong_May_Seey.pdf
Complaints and suggestions to LeongMayseey@ifpi.org
But mind you, all the information is “Strictly Privileged & Confidential”
P.S.
The best one in the presentation cited above is the “Digital File Check”, haha. It tells you in three simple steps if your computer
1) contains file sharing software
2) has files in shared folders that are likely to be illegal
3) and gives you a complete inventory of music, videos and images
Well, the inventory might be sort of useful, depending on the interface and whether one can hook in applications to play that stuff:-D However, I would strongly advise to disconnect the computer from the net, if you really want to play around with that spyware. It most certainly reports the results directly to the IFPI. Yeah, and it seems to run (or be planned to run) in a browser, so that even the internet-newbie-parents can get their children into trouble. Well done, IFPI. Do you know why we don’t respect you?
2.5 mill … retards they will still be losing because their “fleet” of lawyers will cost more than that in a month
[quote comment="324811"]I think Sweden seems too sane for this; the dinosaur mafIAA might actually have to prove, on a dollar-to-dollar basis, that specific customers were willing to pay for the music and would have paid for the music, but because of the services provided by the pirate bay did not pay for the music; good luck!!
I can see it now:
“Achtung! All college-students, pirates, and freedom advocates; we request your immediate presence at court, and your testimony that if only the pirate bay didn’t exist you would have bought any number of these 22 songs; your co-operation in this matter of fining and jailing those who were arrogant enough to legally share music with you will be smiled upon by us; you will not be richly rewarded, however.”
“Ach! Actually, maybe we will richly reward you; come one, come all! Testify against the piratebay and we’ll give you a stuffed dinosaur and a free I-bought-the-law-and-the-law’s-son bumper sticker!!!”
…yeah, that’d never work.But.
GO RON PAUL !!! He’s still in the race and he won’t drop out![/quote]
Hear Hear. When will these “authorities” learn
My company & I are going to demand $50M from the IFPI, for reasons as yet undecided upon. I don’t have a company yet but plan to arrange one. I think it a great idea which ought to be further encouraged. When they refuse to pay I’m going to sue, and do all the legal work myself to save costs. It might drag out for years, but hey, I’ve got plenty of time and nothing better to do. See yas in court boys.
I thought that because of relativistic effects the IFPI could’t get any more ridiculous than it already was. Real life proved me wrong. By their zeal the fine art of utter stupidity has just made a bis step ahead.
But then again, after the IFPI will have filled bankruptcy, none of its employees will have any troubles finding a new job in his/her local circus.
Learn more about this here > http://thepiratebay.org/tor/4310526/Steal_This_Film_1_2_ENG_(2006-07).avi
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