Mark Gilbert’s Blog

Four of the guys who run The Pirate Bay have had legal action brought against them. The plaintiffs in the case include Warner, MGM, Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Sony BMG, Universal and EMI among others.

If the charges stick the defendants face a maximum of two years imprisonment. The prosecution are also pushing for a fine of £90,000, which they say is the minimum amount of profit which The Pirate Bay has made from the disputed illegal activity.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industries said;

“The operators of The Pirate Bay have always been interested in making money, not music. The Pirate Bay has managed to make Sweden, normally the most law abiding of EU countries, look like a piracy haven with intellectual property laws on a par with Russia.”

Time will tell if the charges will stick or not, although in the past there are more often than not problems with prosecuting charges of this nature.

Cheers

The Pirate Bay has somehow managed to acquire the domain ifpi.com which used to belong to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the infamous anti-piracy agency. Quite how they acquired the domain is not quite clear but in an interview with torrent freak Pirate Bay admin Brokep simply said
“It’s not a hack, someone just gave us the domain name. We have no idea how they got it, but it’s ours and we’re keeping it.”
He wants to use the site to spread pirate interests
“The International Federation of Pirate Interests (IFPI) is the new international federation we’re starting in order to get the word of piracy spread.”

So there you go, what happens next remains to be seen.

Cheers