Exactly one year ago The Pirate Bay Four were sentenced to a year in prison, and on top of that each ordered to pay $905,000 in damages. The entertainment industries hoped that the ruling would set an example, but today The Pirate Bay is larger than ever before.
As everyone is now aware, defeat in the Spectrial did not lead to the closure of The Pirate Bay. Now, after being able to download hundreds of their own albums via the site, the record company plaintiffs from the case want action, and have applied to the court to issue fines to the defendants for every day they continue to infringe copyright.
The connections of Pirate Bay judge Tomas Norström to national and international pro-copyright lobby groups are even more far reaching than initially reported. Consequently, many leading figures within the Swedish judicial system are now convinced that a retrial is necessary so the defendants can have an unbiased trial.
Just minutes ago the verdict in the case of The Pirate Bay Four was announced. All four defendants were accused of ‘assisting in making copyright content available’. Peter Sunde: Guilty. Fredrik Neij: Guilty. Gottfrid Svartholm: Guilty. Carl Lundström: Guilty. The four receive 1 year in jail each and fines totaling $3,620,000.
According to Pirate Bay spokesman Peter Sunde, he has been given information which suggests that the crew have lost their case in Sweden. A “trustworthy source” reportedly leaked the verdict from the court.
It’s been two weeks since the Pirate Bay trial came to an end – at least for now. While the judge reviews the arguments presented by both sides, TorrentFreak caught up with Peter Sunde to look forward to the decision and review the tumultuous events of the past weeks.
After two weeks of live broadcasted hearings on the Internet, the ‘Spectrial’ is coming to an end. This week both parties presented their closing statements to the court. Time for us to weigh up developments so far and look forward to the verdict.
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Left Quote“The Pirate Bay has been one of the most important movements in Sweden for freedom of speech, working against corruption and censorship.
Peter Sunde Left Quote
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