Pirate Bay Trial In Sweden To Be Broadcast Online
from the good-news dept
We're getting close to the start of the big Pirate Bay trial in Sweden that hopefully will settle the question of whether or not running a torrent tracker search engine is legal in that country. Apparently, the trial is being held in a rather small courtroom, and there was some fear that this would significantly limit media access (especially since all media requests were supposedly being screened to make sure that the reporters "had no connection to the movement" -- whatever that means). The good news, however, is that the court has agreed to the request from The Pirate Bay to stream the audio from the trial. Should be worth paying attention to what happens...
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: broadcast, sweden, trial
Companies: the pirate bay
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Yeah, it's in Swedish, but the Pirate Bay guys promise an English translation as well...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Subbed?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Subbed?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
kind of off topic but not so much
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: kind of off topic but not so much
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Boooooring
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Boooooring
if i remember correctly they compare themselves to a map.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Boooooring
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Translations
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
RIAA for the win
Just wait and see. :)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: RIAA for the win
"It's embarrassing to see all these writers and musicians and artists bemoaning the fact that art just got this wicked new feature: the ability to be shared without losing access to it in the first place. It's like watching restaurant owners crying down their shirts about the new free lunch machine that's feeding the world's starving people because it'll force them to reconsider their business-models. Yes, that's gonna be tricky, but let's not lose sight of the main attraction: free lunches!
Universal access to human knowledge is in our grasp, for the first time in the history of the world. This is not a bad thing."
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Personally I would guess that they are found guilty of assisting copyright infringement in the lower court and that this ruling is later overruled, but that they still get into some kind of trouble due to their way of handling income from ads. Since there are some earlier rulings which show that linking to copyrighted material is not illegal it's not unlikely that the prosecutor will try to focus on the bittorrent-tracker rather than the web front-end to the torrent database.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
As for the court size... The courts and governments of the world don't seem to have any idea just how pissed off the populace of their country tends to be about this kind of alienation. Would be more clear if a large part weren't just apathetic to the whole thing.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Set a precedent ?
Who's next ?
Mr. Niceguy, did you or did you not point out the illegal activity across the street ?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No matter the outcome in Sweden, I see it as only a matter of time before The Pirate Bay is hauled into a United States Federal District Court. While its servers may be located outside the Unites States, it is not at all a difficult matter to hold The Pirate Bay subject to the jusrisdiction of our federal courts and our copyright laws.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Referring to The Pirate Bay's attitude, I support the way they deal with the RIAA. I can't say it's the best way to deal with anyone, but it certainly does feel good when SOMEONE sticks up to the bully.
Concerning your thoguhts that the Pirate Bay will be hauled into court...No one has the "right" to hold another to some moral standard except if mutually agreed upon (we elect a government...and we pledge our loyalty to that government. In turn, the government upholds a moral standard that is, in its turn, the mutual morality we have agreed upon). Anything beyond such is a road to complete and utter chaos...
Personally, I think that stupid comments made by people like you who apparently talk before thinking (that's giving you the benefit of the doubt and saying that you might be capable of thinking at all) are half of the reason that Americans have such a bad rap.
I have no problems respecting your thinking. But this is just you spitting out someone else's propaganda...there's no room in intelligent discussion for regurgitation.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Not every copyright holder is a member of the RIAA/MPAA/etc., so your invective is seriously misplaced.
Personally, I think that stupid comments made by people like you who apparently talk before thinking (that's giving you the benefit of the doubt and saying that you might be capable of thinking at all) are half of the reason that Americans have such a bad rap..
I have no problems respecting your thinking. But this is just you spitting out someone else's propaganda...there's no room in intelligent discussion for regurgitation..
Since you appear to believe you have a firm handle on US law, both substantive and procedural, you are correct in noting there is no room for intelligent discussion.
BTW, I have no "dog in this fight". All I am noting is that the law is not so clear cut as so many seem to think.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Seeing as they have not set foot there, unless they decide to go, there is nothing any US court can do, apart from possibly pontificate...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
If such a lawsuit is ever filed in the US against TPB, its failure to appear before a court is its decision, in which case the party bringing such a suit would have a remarkably easy time presenting its case to the court without any rejoinder by TPB. Assuming a plaintiff to such a lawsuit can demonstrate a cognizable cause of action in its complaint, TPB would likely be held in default and a decision rendered in favor of the plaintiff.
TPB may be able to tell copyright holders to pound sand, but this would not be a wise thing to do to a federal court judge.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
If such a lawsuit is ever filed in the US against TPB, its failure to appear before a court is its decision, in which case the party bringing such a suit would have a remarkably easy time presenting its case to the court without any rejoinder by TPB. Assuming a plaintiff to such a lawsuit can demonstrate a cognizable cause of action in its complaint, TPB would likely be held in default and a decision rendered in favor of the plaintiff.
TPB may be able to tell copyright holders to pound sand, but this would not be a wise thing to do to a federal court judge.
you forgot the part where the people who run Pirate bay can just ignore the judge because they aren't US citizens and (as long as TPB people don't come over here) they can completely ignore anything our courts say and don't have to recognize the US's authority in anything.
so sure someone could sue them (assuming they want to travel international to deliver notice) and they could win if TPB doesn't show up, but there is nothing to force the pirate bay to pay any money or go to jail.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
"the movement"
"the movement" is probably a reference to the the pirate movement in sweden. the movement is made up of groups like the pirate party, the piratbyran, and kopimi.
there is a lot of discussion of the movement in part 2 of "steal this film":
http://www.stealthisfilm.com/Part2
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Voice of the free has got the wrong analogy
If that situation is not dealt with the restauranteurs stop creating dishes and sell up. No food for anyone. THERE IS NO MAGICAL OTHER SOURCE OF FREE MEALS.
You know- people who steal IP are mostly intelligent people. Justifying it requires a lot of intellectual effort. Well, who wants to acknowledge that there pasttime involves straight theft.
But fellas, every single country in the civilized world supports IP. Without it huge swathes of media, entertainment, pharma, IT simply can't operate and can't invest. That'd not a world we can want to live in.
Sure, keep stealing. But stop with your feeble efforts to justify it.
Pirate bay are simply handing the restaurant keys to the meal-stealers. Well if they were the keys to any other form of theft then they'd go down; which is what will happen. Goodbye pirate bay.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Voice of the free has got the wrong analogy
Music, Movies, and Video games would all exist even if no one paid for it. They existed long before copyright ( most of the greatest music of human history was written before copyrights) and will continue to exist if copyright were to suddenly vanish.
also, when talking about anything that is on a digital media, you can make an infinite number of copies without harming or removing the original. it is not like a sandwich where if I eat your sandwich then the sandwich is gone. it is more like a library where anyone can checkout and read books, except now you never have to wait to get the book, a new copy is made just for you.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]