Four convicted in file-sharing trial

Four men behind the popular file-sharing site The Pirate Bay are convicted of breaking Sweden's copyright law.

File picture of Gottfrid Svartholm Warg (centre) and Peter Sunde (right) from The Pirate Bay meeting the press in Stockholm.

STOCKHOLM // Four men behind the popular file-sharing site The Pirate Bay were today convicted of breaking Sweden's copyright law by helping millions of users freely download music, movies and computer games on the internet. In a landmark ruling, the Stockholm district court sentenced Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij and Carl Lundstrom to one year each in prison. They were also ordered to pay damages of 30 million kronor (Dh13.2m) to a series of entertainment companies, including Warner Bros, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI and Columbia Pictures.

With an estimated 22 million users, The Pirate Bay has become the entertainment industry's enemy No. 1 after successful court actions against file-swapping sites such as Grokster and Kazaa. Lundstrom helped finance the site while the three other defendants administered it. Defence lawyers had argued the quartet should be acquitted because The Pirate Bay doesn't host any copyright-protected material. Instead, it provides a forum for its users to download content through so-called torrent files.

The court found the defendants guilty of helping users commit copyright violations "by providing a website with ... sophisticated search functions, simple download and storage capabilities, and through the tracker linked to the website". In a video clip posted on the internet, Sunde called the ruling "bizarre" and said it would be appealed. He also dismissed the damages to the entertainment companies, saying "we can't pay and we won't pay". Mockingly, he held up a hand-scribbled "I owe U" note to the camera.

"This is as close as you will get to having money from us," he said. Judge Tomas Norstrom told reporters that the court took into account that he site was "commercially driven" when it made the ruling. The defendants have denied any commercial motives behind the site. John Kennedy, the head of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, called the verdict good news for anyone "who is making a living or a business from creative activity and who needs to know their rights will be protected by law".

The court hearings, which ended March 3, renewed debate about file-sharing in Sweden, where many defend the right to swap songs and movies freely on the internet. Critics say that Swedish authorities caved in to pressure from the US when they took action against The Pirate Bay in 2006. The Pirate Bay's supporters mobilised for the trial, waving black skull-and-crossbones flags outside the court and setting up a website dedicated to the proceedings.

*AP