Pirate Bay Trial Appeal Underway
- 14 years ago
A year after the four operators of free file-sharing website The Pirate Bay were found guilty of breaching copyright laws, their appeal gets underway.The website helps web surfers share copyrighted music and film files, which is illegal in many countries, including Sweden.
An appeal by the four men convicted in the Pirate Bay trial has opened in Stockholm.
The men appeared at the Court of Appeal in the Swedish capital in an effort to overturn their conviction last year of being accessories to breaching copyright laws.
The Pirate Bay, launched in 2003, helps web surfers share copyrighted music and film files, which is illegal in many countries, including Sweden.
The group that controls Pirate Bay said no copyright material was stored on its servers, and no exchange of files actually took place there.
As a result, they said Pirate Bay could not be held responsible for what material was being exchanged.
One of the convicted men appeared relaxed about the trial.
[Peter Sunde, Pirate Bay]:
"I think it's a theatre as usual and it won't be anything more than watching a video and eating popcorn."
But the prosecution said that by financing, programming, and administering the site, the four men promoted the infringement of property rights by the site's users.
A lawyer representing Warner Brothers, Columbia, and MGM agreed with the District Court's judgment.
[Monique Wadsted, Lawyer, Representing Film and Music Industry]:
"The District Court's judgment was very good and we have also had civil cases after that that have confirmed that the Pirate Bay is an illegal activity and for instance their hosting providers have been prohibited to host then and so on."
If the court throws out the appeal, each of the four men faces a one-year prison sentence and a fine of 4.35 million dollars.
The case is expected to go all the way to the Supreme Court.
An appeal by the four men convicted in the Pirate Bay trial has opened in Stockholm.
The men appeared at the Court of Appeal in the Swedish capital in an effort to overturn their conviction last year of being accessories to breaching copyright laws.
The Pirate Bay, launched in 2003, helps web surfers share copyrighted music and film files, which is illegal in many countries, including Sweden.
The group that controls Pirate Bay said no copyright material was stored on its servers, and no exchange of files actually took place there.
As a result, they said Pirate Bay could not be held responsible for what material was being exchanged.
One of the convicted men appeared relaxed about the trial.
[Peter Sunde, Pirate Bay]:
"I think it's a theatre as usual and it won't be anything more than watching a video and eating popcorn."
But the prosecution said that by financing, programming, and administering the site, the four men promoted the infringement of property rights by the site's users.
A lawyer representing Warner Brothers, Columbia, and MGM agreed with the District Court's judgment.
[Monique Wadsted, Lawyer, Representing Film and Music Industry]:
"The District Court's judgment was very good and we have also had civil cases after that that have confirmed that the Pirate Bay is an illegal activity and for instance their hosting providers have been prohibited to host then and so on."
If the court throws out the appeal, each of the four men faces a one-year prison sentence and a fine of 4.35 million dollars.
The case is expected to go all the way to the Supreme Court.