Today, The Pirate Bay trial will probably come to an end, but not before the defendants’ lawyers have their final say. All four lawyers call for their clients to be acquitted on various grounds, while offering caution to the court to ignore the politic aspects of the trial.
As we enter the final days of The Pirate Bay trial, today the prosecution has been giving the court its closing arguments. Håkan Roswall, Peter Danowsky, Henrik Pontén and Monique Wadsted all appeared, with Roswall calling on the judge to jail all four of the defendants.
When Professor and media researcher Roger Wallis left the stand yesterday, the court asked whether he wanted to be reimbursed for his appearance. “You are welcome to send some flowers to my wife,” he responded. In the hours that followed, many Pirate Bay supporters took this suggestion to hand.
Yesterday several entertainment industry insiders explained how piracy was responsible for the downfall of their industries. Today, Kristoffer Schollin from Gothenburg University explains that BitTorrent is not evil, while media professor Roger Wallis informs the court that the file-sharing is actually beneficial to the entertainment industry.
It’s Day 8 of The Pirate Bay trial and several entertainment industry CEOs take the stand. IFPI’s CEO John Kennedy said that TPB was an extremely damaging force on the global music industry and what the site offers is just too tempting for people to resist. He also admitted to not understanding how TPB or even uTorrent works.
After a long weekend break, both sides have returned to the Stockholm court room. Day 6 of the trial was a rest day, so we skip to Day 7 where the IFPI’s evidence collector relies only on screenshots and admits he’s not a BitTorrent expert. Furthermore, the Prosecution don’t know where policeman Jim Keyzer is.
In a desperate move to amp up her case against The Pirate Bay, prosecuting lawyer Monique Wadsted has asked authors for quotes and support in preparation for her closing arguments next Monday. Unfortunately for her, the friendly request backfired as a befriended author turned out to be a fanatical Pirate Bay supporter.