A Swedish appellate court late today (Friday) upheld the convictions of three operators of the Pirate Bay website, Frederik Neij, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundström for what was called “contributory copyright infringement” and sentenced them to prison and ordered them to pay damages of more than $6.5 million. In its ruling, the court said, “The Pirate Bay has facilitated illegal file-sharing in a way that results in criminal liability for those who run the service.
For the three defendants the court of appeal believes it is proven that they participated in these activities in different ways and to varying degrees.” The court reserved the harshest sentence for co-founder Neij, who was ordered to spend 10 months in jail. Sunde, the Pirate Bay’s spokesman, who resigned in 2009 after the lower court’s verdict, was sentenced to eight months in prison. Receiving the lightest prison sentence — four months — was Carl Lundström, a wealthy businessman who financed the ISP that hosted The Pirate Bay. Although all three were ordered to pay total damages of $6.5 million, only Lundström, it would seem, has the means to pay any of it — and will probably wind up paying all of it. Following the verdict, the Motion Picture Association (MPA), which represents the major studios overseas, issued a statement saying that it welcomed it and added, “This confirms that such activities are illegal and if you engage in them, you run the risk of very significant consequences.”
Being poor and illegal on the internet is getting harder and harder. I really hope they are putting as much effort in squashing kiddy porn as the are making sure I don't download episodes of Fringe.
Full article under the cut!
No comments:
Post a Comment