These cases were initiated with help from Vytas Simanavicius, the former Vice President of the anti-piracy group, who often collaborated with local law enforcement.

However, in recent times the former anti-piracy chief found himself on the wrong side of the law after being accused of drug trafficking. This week the court concluded his case which resulted in a two-year jail sentence.

The trouble for the anti-piracy boss started February two years ago. At the time the Organized Crime Investigation Board launched a pre-trial investigation into Simanavicius, suspecting that he was involved in the drug trade.

In the early stages of the investigation the LANVA boss’s girlfriend provided information to the police. The local authorities then decided to put him on surveillance for six months. Eventually a sting operation was launched, using an undercover police woman posing as an interested buyer.

The agent recorded a conversation about drug prices with Simanavicius, who further revealed that he obtained the drugs from a connection in the Netherlands. The undercover agent also bought drug samples from LANVA’s president, who intended to acquire bigger batches.

The deal never went through, instead, the then President of LANVA was charged with drug trafficking.

The two-year jail sentence Simanavicius received this week is the lowest possible under Lithuanian criminal law, and can be appealed at a higher court.

In recent years Simanavicius built quite a track record of legal proceedings against BitTorrent sites and users, and served as the local expert on anti-piracy matters.

In 2010 LANVA teamed up with software giant Microsoft again to sue the operator of LinkoManija. Microsoft demanded $43 million from the defendant and his company for assisting in the illegal distribution of its software.

This case is still ongoing, but it’s unlikely that Vytas Simanavicius will stay on as an expert witness.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Vytas Simanavicius, the 43-year-old Vice President of the anti-piracy group, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges this week.

February last year the Organized Crime Investigation Board launched a pre-trial investigation into Simanavicius, suspecting that he was involved in the drug trade.

In the early stages of the investigation the LANVA boss’s girlfriend provided information to the police. The local authorities then decided to put him on surveillance for six month. Eventually a sting operation was launched, using an undercover police woman posing as an interested buyer.

The agent recorded a conversation about drug prices with Simanavicius, who further revealed that he obtained the drugs from a connection in the Netherlands. The undercover agent also bought drug samples from LANVA’s president, who allegedly intended to acquire bigger batches.

According to the police investigation the drugs were not of the best quality, and the anti-piracy chief did not present a bigger batch of drugs because he failed to raise enough funds.

When the facts were presented in court this week Simanavicius pleaded guilty to drug possession, with intent to distribute. If convicted, the offenses could result in a two to eight year prison sentence for the anti-piracy chief.

In recent years the LANVA anti-piracy group has teamed up with the police on many occasions, and Simanavicius built quite a track record of legal proceedings against BitTorrent sites and users.

In 2009 LANVA reported the IP-addresses of 106 users of LinkoManija, the country’s largest BitTorrent site, to the police. At the time the anti-piracy group claimed that the site’s users were sharing a copy of the Windows 7 Ultimate operating system.

One BitTorrent user was eventually taken to court, but the case was dismissed due to lack of evidence.

In 2010 LANVA teamed up with software giant Microsoft again to sue the operator of LinkoManija. Microsoft demanded $43 million from the defendant and his company for assisting in the illegal distribution of its software. This case is still ongoing, but it’s unlikely that Vytas Simanavicius will stay on as an expert witness.

Similarly, the anti-piracy group LANVA will have to look out for a new boss if it wants to continue its work.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

However, according to a reputable Lithuanian news source, LANVA chief Vytas Simanavicius has now run into legal trouble himself. The serious nature of his alleged crimes could get him locked away for several years.

The Organized Crime Investigation Board suspects Simanavicius of drug trading or unlawful possession of illegal narcotic substances in high quantities.

The news follows after the local authorities launched a pre-trial investigation into the drugs trade February this year. On Thursday the Kaunas police department confirmed the investigation into drug crimes, referring to the lead suspect with the initials V.S.

If convicted, the offenses could result in a two to eight year prison sentence for the anti-piracy chief.

In recent years the LANVA anti-piracy group has built quite a track record when it comes to legal proceedings against BitTorrent sites and users.

In 2009 LANVA reported the IP-addresses of 106 users of LinkoManija, the country’s largest BitTorrent site, to the police. At the time the anti-piracy group claimed that the site’s users were sharing a copy of the Windows 7 Ultimate operating system.

One BitTorrent user was eventually taken to court, but the case was dismissed due to a lack of evidence.

In 2010 LANVA teamed up with software giant Microsoft again to sue the operator of LinkoManija. Microsoft demanded $43 million from the defendant and his company for assisting in the illegal distribution of its software. This case is still ongoing.

LANVA has yet to comment on the allegations against its President and could not be reached for a comment.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

The self-proclaimed investigators evidence consisted of a screenshot of peers as listed by uTorrent. The evidence was gathered in conjunction with a local police officer, but none of the parties involved was authorized to conduct an investigation of this kind.

LANVA nevertheless took one of the 106 users to court, hoping to set a favorable precedent that would allow them to go after other alleged copyright infringers. The case went before the courts and the verdict handed down today was not the one the anti-piracy outfit had hoped for.

Citing faulty evidence, the District Court judge closed the case and fully acquitted the sole defendant Sergej Bernotas. The judge stated that LANVA had no right to collect and use the information they gathered. In addition, the judge ruled that such evidence gathering techniques have to be approved before they can be used.

For now, uTorrent and for that matter all other BitTorrent clients remain uncertified as proper evidence collection tools. To be used as such, the developers would also have to give their approval, something that obviously didn’t happen in this case.

At the court hearing it also became clear that the police officer involved had no IT experience and simply carried out what LANVA told him to. When the policeman was asked what tools he used to gather evidence he replied “a computer” resulting in laughs from the audience.

Aside from the action against several LinkoManija users, the alleged operator of the site is also facing legal action from LANVA and Microsoft. In January software giant Microsoft sued the alleged operator, demanding $43 million from the defendant and his company for assisting in the illegal distribution of Office 2003 and 2007.

The case against the operator is still ongoing, but today’s ruling makes it unlikely that LANVA will be successful in pursuing the site’s users. The anti-piracy outfit does have the option to appeal, but if they do the case won’t be heard before the coming winter.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

This week, Microsoft joins the fight as the software company announces that it will pursue LinkoManija’s alleged operator Kestas Ermanas and his company in court.

The action against Lithuania’s largest BitTorrent site, which is in the top 10 of the most visited websites in the country, has been approved by the US headquarters of the software giant.

The defendant and his company are accused of facilitating copyright infringement of Microsoft’s Office 2003 and 2007 through their involvement with the BitTorrent tracker.

Together with local anti-piracy outfit LANVA, Microsoft has requested 107 million Lithuanian litas ($43 million) in damages at the Vilnius Regional Court. However, under Lithuanian law Microsoft can get up to $53,000 in damages at maximum.

In response to the demands from Microsoft, the assets of Kestas Ermanas and his company were seized and associated bank accounts frozen.

TorrentFreak briefly spoke with the defendant who is pretty shaken up by the news, but is claiming Microsoft sued the wrong people. We were told that as of 2010, he and his company no longer run LinkoManija. Kestas and his company operated the site until December last year.

Kestas further told us that Microsoft’s move surprised him, as the company has never sent a torrent takedown request to the popular BitTorrent tracker. “We informed them that we wanted to cooperate with them, they just had to give us the links to the infringing torrent files,” Kestas said, adding “they never wrote back to us.”

In addition to Kestas and his company, Microsoft is also pursuing legal action against LinkoManija’s users. In November last year, 106 users of the site were reported to the police and one of them will go on trial next month.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Like all respected anti-piracy organizations, LANVA holds accounts at all the popular private torrent trackers, including LinkoManija. For a long time their account remained inactive, but this week LANVA claimed a small victory as it reported the IP-addresses of 106 users of the site to the police.

According to the anti-piracy outfit, the reported users were caught sharing a copy of the newly released Windows 7 Ultimate operating system. As evidence the self-proclaimed investigators submitted a screenshot of peers listed by uTorrent.

The owner of LinkoManija was not impressed by LANVA’s actions. “Anyone can copy a peer list, but it doesn’t prove that anyone downloaded the full file or actually uploaded anything,” Kestas told TorrentFreak. “It can’t be used as serious evidence,” he added.

LANVA disagrees and hopes that the police will track down the identities of the accused infringers. If this happens the users will face fines of up to several hundred dollars, plus additional damages Microsoft’s lawyers may call for.

In a response the owner of LinkoManija has reported LANVA to the police. People who are affiliated with an anti-piracy group are not allowed to use LinkoManija according to the site’s disclaimer, and Kestas has asked the police find out whether LANVA broke the law.

“We contacted the police and asked them to investigate how LANVA obtained the information, because we did not give them permission,” Kestas told TorrentFreak. The police informed him that they would look into the case.

If any of the reported users faces legal action, Kestas says he will help them out with legal support. “We told our users that we will be fighting for them if they get in trouble, because it’s a fight for the freedom of us all,” he said. “Our users are our strength,” he added.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Of course, a country with plenty of ‘pirates’ has to have its own anti-piracy organization, and Lithuania is no different. The local anti-piracy outfit goes by the name ANVA, an acronym for ‘Antipiracines Veiklos Asociacija’. Their main targets are the local BitTorrent sites, which they have announced they will sue for millions in damages.

To use the word ‘Lithuania’ in a Lithuanian organization’s name requires government approval. Recently, ANVA changed its name to LANVA, after they succeeded in getting this authorization. This seal of approval may give the organization more credibility, but there is a small problem. They forgot to register the domain lanva.lt when they changed their name. Before, they were using anva.lt, but while they did make a new logo with the L included, registering a new domain didn’t come to mind.

Usually, mistakes like this can be easily overcome by paying a certain amount of money to the person who was smart enough to register the domain, but not this time. Kestas Ermanas, the owner of one of the largest BitTorrent sites in Lithuania, registered the domain as soon as he found out about the name change, and he is not planning to hand it over to his arch rival.

The domain Kestas bought currently displays the following message: “This is how it works. Whatever you sink, we build back up. Whomever you sue, ten new pirates are recruited. Wherever you go, we are already ahead of you. You are the past and the forgotten, we are the Internet and the future.”

LANVA has scheduled an emergency meeting next Thursday to discuss what they can do to get the lanva.lt domain in their possession. The chances that they will get the domain through a dispute are very slim though. There have been several cases in Lithuania where large companies sued owners of domain names, and they lost every single time.

This is not the first time that an anti-piracy organization has had a domain dispute with a BitTorrent site. October last year The Pirate Bay got hold of the domain name of IFPI, under which they wanted to launch the “International Federation of Pirate Interests.” The case was later lost by The Pirate Bay, but the fact that they acquired it in the first place is yet another example of the tech illiteracy of these organizations.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.