Legal News

The Pirate Bay Operators: Heroes or Criminals?

By Ashby Jones

The operators of the Pirate Bay Web site: heroes who have enabled free access to copyrighted material, or criminals?

That’s the question currently being considered by a Swedish court, with a ruling due on Friday. Last year Swedish prosecutors filed criminal charges against four men (three of whom are pictured, left) it claims have violated the country’s copyright law by operating the Pirate Bay. The file-sharing site has long been one of the top Web destinations for people seeking access to pirated movies, games, books and business software. The site, which says it has 22 million users, is based in Sweden, where the government has taken few steps to curtail piracy until recently. Click here for the WSJ story.

The four men have denied the charges, arguing that they merely provided an index of content and didn’t control what other people did with it. The prosecution has asked for sentences of one year. Entertainment companies, including Time Warner’s Warner Bros., EMI Group Ltd. and Sony Corp.’s Columbia Pictures, are also seeking a total of about $14.2 million compensation for lost revenue.

The criminal trial had some Swedish quirks: only one of four judges had legal training and the defendants’ legal costs are being covered by the government.

While the men appear to have a lot of public support in Sweden, legal experts expect them to lose. “I’ll be surprised if they are not convicted,” said Karl Olsson, a lawyer not involved in the case who works at Sweden’s biggest intellectual property law firm, Awapatent AB. “It is easy when you look at the Web site to see they are enabling people to download” pirated files.

LB Readers, whaddya think? Free-information heroes or common criminals?

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on April 13, 2009 (boomark / email).