Pirate Bay Wants IFPI To Pay Up For Danish ISP Block

from the poking-ifpi-with-a-stick dept

Tue, Apr 15th 2008 10:55pm — Mike Masnick

The folks behind the Pirate Bay certainly aren't ones to shy away from a fight. In fact, they seem to enjoy it. The latest is that they're demanding compensation from the IFPI for downtime associated with the IFPI's successful efforts to force Danish ISPs to block access to The Pirate Bay. The Pirate Bay says it will ask for a "reasonable" sum, rather than an extraordinary amount as is typical of the entertainment industry. It also says it will use any money it gets from the IFPI to fund Danish artists who want to give away their works online. While the guys at the Pirate Bay reasonably complain that the entire lawsuit between the IFPI and Danish ISPs never involved The Pirate Bay or gave the site a chance to make its own argument (despite being entirely about the site), this request for compensation may be pushing the boundaries a bit -- especially considering that even The Pirate Bay folks have admitted that the ban eventually resulted in more traffic. Perhaps they should send some money to the IFPI to thank them for all that "free" advertising.

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Filed Under: blocks, compensation, denmark, pirate bay
Companies: ifpi, pirate bay

15 Comments

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Peter, 16 Apr 2008 @ 12:03am

If nothing else you have to admire those people at pirate bay for their attitude and spirit, where others roll over and call it quits they just keep coming back. I have never been to their sites but I do applaud them.
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Evil Mike, 16 Apr 2008 @ 12:09am

Re:
Here here! I couldn't agree more,
when it come to chutzpah, those guys have got it by the bucket full.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Apr 2008 @ 12:19am

this request for compensation may be pushing the boundaries a bit -- especially considering that even The Pirate Bay folks have admitted that the ban eventually resulted in more traffic. Perhaps they should send some money to the IFPI to thank them for all that "free" advertising.

Right... and maybe the RIAA should be paying us the for the free promotion and distribution of their label's music? Major organisations would never see it that way so why should the Pirate Bay? They deserve compensation.
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illegalprelude, 16 Apr 2008 @ 12:21am

Hell yea, you gotta give to the Pirate Bay. If anything, they seem to do everything TechDirt preaches about. When Kazaa and Napster and everybody else just sold out, these guys have made a movement and effort and our spending time and money defending it.
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Matt, 16 Apr 2008 @ 12:42am

Re: a lawyer once put this wording perfectly, in fact today
From this article (the lawyer who monster stupidly tried to sue) - linked - http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/blue-jeans-strikes-back

he says: " After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1985, I spent nineteen years in litigation practice, with a focus upon federal litigation involving large damages and complex issues. My first seven years were spent primarily on the defense side, where I developed an intense frustration with insurance carriers who would settle meritless claims for nuisance value when the better long-term view would have been to fight against vexatious litigation as a matter of principle. "

This is the answer. You lose a helluva lot more longterm money if you settle and wuss out on these lawsuits. In contrary, piratebay is going strong and then some, and people are resorting to illegal methods (IFPI for one) to try to shut them down.

Principle = all. Short term = how much will this cost us in court. Long term = what will this do for our business.
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kneeL, 16 Apr 2008 @ 1:17am

Piratbyrån
long live Piratebay!
R.I.P. Oink :(

Fuck the RIAA/IFPI/MPAA/all those fuckers

Boycott major artists, do not buy ANY artists that sign to a label that pays RIAA for copyright protection.
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Nefarious Logic, 16 Apr 2008 @ 1:27am

Re: PiratbyrÃ¥n
Boycott major artists, do not buy ANY artists that sign to a label that pays RIAA for copyright protection.

-- Dont you mean copyright exploitation? Copyright blackmail??
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Copyright Blackmail, 16 Apr 2008 @ 1:41am

Oh, there it is!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07m-IvvpK2E
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Lucretious, 16 Apr 2008 @ 3:11am

God I love these guys.

Big. Swedish. Balls.
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SomeGuy, 16 Apr 2008 @ 4:58am

Re:
I'd argue against the fact that they "deserve" compensation (especially if, as noted, the ban INCREASED their traffic, and thus there's no corresponding "loss of business"), but I think it's perfectly fair for them to play the game by the same rules the competition would. So I'm all for them suing the IFPI.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Apr 2008 @ 5:04am

Re: Re:
Chutzpah may have nothing to do with it. When one files suit one chooses the country, location, and court which provides major advantage to the person suing. A good example of this is that almost all American IP suits are filed in Marshall TX because it is assumed there that if you file suit then you are right and the other party is wrong. If one is assured that they are going to be sued then one would be prudent to strike first in a frendly court.
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chris (profile), 16 Apr 2008 @ 6:04am

Re: PiratbyrÃ¥n
http://www.futuristicsexrobotz.com/album/hotel_coral_essex.zip

track 5 says it all.
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PopeRatzo, 16 Apr 2008 @ 7:20am

I'm donating today
Tell you what, I'm impressed with TPB's willingness to fight the people who hate freedom.

I'm going to drop by and donate today. What's their URL? Maybe somebody(s) can post it here.
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Franssu, 16 Apr 2008 @ 8:42am

Re: Re: a lawyer once put this wording perfectly, in fact today
I couldn't agree more with your last sentence. Lots of businesses, mainly because they're pushed by moronic shareholders (and forgetting the other stakeholders), only think short-term. Which is bad for them, bad for their industry, and bad for everyone in the long term. When will they learn ?
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Cottor, 28 Jan 2009 @ 3:45am

Goddammit
I'm living in Denmark and experiencing this horrible cut!! goddamit why do they even bother shutting us off from TPB... we'll just use another site to get our shit... and hell.. any decent torrent downloader has the decency to buy the products he enjoyed ... like hell if I wanna spend 200 Dkr or 500 Dkr on a movie/game that was pure CRAP... anyways they're only delaying us .. I'm just gonna use mininova until this shit clears off...

P.S. Yes I know about "demos" but they're like trailers... they'll make the game look great but in reality it's not... however I'm mostly a movie fan
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