A Win For All You Copyright Junkies.

[mrt273nva]

Source: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/reuters/2009/0...Y-UPDATE-3.html

Pirate Bay fileshare four jailed for a year

STOCKHOLM, April 17 (Reuters) - Four men linked to The Pirate Bay, one of the world's biggest free file-sharing websites, were each jailed for a year on Friday for breaching copyright and ordered to pay 30 million Swedish crowns ($3.58 million) in compensation.

Analysts said the guilty verdict in the closely-watched test case could help music and film companies recoup millions of dollars in lost revenues but they doubted it would stem the tide of illegal downloading.

International trade body IFPI reported earlier this year that about 95 percent of music downloaded in 2008 was illegal.

On its website, The Pirate Bay scorned the ruling, calling it a "crazy verdict".

"It was lol (laugh out loud) to read and hear," the message read. "But as in all good movies, the heroes lose in the beginning but have an epic victory in the end anyhow. That's the only thing Hollywood has ever taught us."

IFPI Svenska Gruppen, an organisation representing the Swedish recording industry, said the verdict was "not only positive for the music and film business, but also for all those producers and entrepreneurs trying to create working and legal online services based on real respect for copyright."

The men linked to The Pirate Bay -- Peter Sunde, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Fredrik Neij and Carl Lundstrom -- were charged early last year by a Swedish prosecutor with conspiracy to break copyright law and related offences. They denied the charges.

Companies including Warner Bros., MGM, Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox Films, Sony ( SNE - news - people ) BMG, Universal and EMI also sought damages of more than 100 million crowns ($12 million) to cover lost revenues.

The Stockholm district court said in a statement the four were found guilty of breaching copyright laws and each sentenced to a year in prison.

APPEAL

Lundstrom's attorney Per Samuelson told journalists he was shocked by the verdict and the severity of the sentence.

"That's outrageous, in my point of view. Of course we will appeal," he said. "This is the first word, not the last. The last word will be ours."

The group that controls The Pirate Bay, launched in 2003, says that no copyrighted material is stored on its servers and no exchange of files actually takes place there so it cannot be held responsible for what material is being exchanged.

The prosecution said that by financing, programming and administering the site, the four men promoted the infringement of property rights by the site's users.

Industry experts were not convinced the verdict would have a lasting effect.

"Every time you get rid of one, another bigger one pops up. Napster ( NAPS - news - people ) went, and then up came a whole host of others ... The problem of file-sharing just keeps growing year on year, and it's increasingly difficult for the industry to do anything about it," said music analyst Mark Mulligan of research firm Forrester.

Dan Cryan, senior analyst at media research firm Screen Digest, said the lack of international copyright law meant websites dedicated to illegal downloads could simply move on to a new country if legislation tightened where they operated.

"Pirate Bay was brilliant at self-publicity, but the reality is there are lots of other torrent-tracker sites," he said.

"The closing of the one that shouts the loudest won't make any difference."

[PhilHarries]

You tend to find that the people most supportive of piracy are the ones who don't live by their creativity.

[ernest1966]

1 closed, 10 more take its place, no worries

[mrt273nva]

You tend to find that the people most supportive of piracy are the ones who don't live by their creativity.

thats right. instead of downloading a box office hit movie you should make one instead. i'm fairly certain that the downloads of pirated movies and music have more to do with the high cost of purchasing the original products than the lack of creativity.

Edited April 17, 2009 by mrt273nva

[JetsetBkk]

You tend to find that the people most supportive of piracy are the ones who don't live by their creativity.

thats right. instead of downloading a box office hit movie you should make one instead. i'm fairly certain that the downloads of pirated movies and music have more to do with the high cost of purchasing the original products than the lack of creativity.

Anyone got the financial reports of these movie and music companies? I don't think Sony or Warner are short of a bob or two.

Anyway, thanks for this thread - it reminded me to get my Vuze running...

[Supernova]

This verdict is as bizarre as the case itself... Jail and hefty fine for what? Hosting .torrent files?! Having followed the case from the start it all just seems silly. Like it or not, P2P is here to stay. The record companies had better get used it and adapt to the new ways of doing things.

[MTH]

Well this isn’t over yet. The appeal should have been submitted already. There are three levels in the general judicial system in Sweden and this case will surely go all the way. Whatever happens in the second tier (the appeals court), this case will then be appealed again, and continue on to the Supreme Court of Sweden. So it will at least be another year before we will see a final verdict.

[davee58]

I was going to support them by buying an official "Pirate Bay" t.shirt from their website.

25 Euro!!

Stuff that, I will get a pirate copy from e-bay instead.

[PhilHarries]

I was going to support them by buying an official "Pirate Bay" t.shirt from their website.

25 Euro!!

Stuff that, I will get a pirate copy from e-bay instead.

<edit : forgot to add that your opinion would be rather different if you were an artist making your living from the stuff being pirated. Yeah sure they only get a fraction of the costs from the originals but they get &lt;deleted&gt; all from pirated stuff.

I have to admit though that I am a bit of a hypocrite having purchased Lacoste snides but then they really are taking the p1ss getting the shirts made in Bangladesh or similar cheap location and charging an arm and a leg in Europe/USA>

Edited April 17, 2009 by PhilHarries

[webfact]

Let me add this. Yes it is a very delicate matter. But view it from another side.

Most of us know what an average Thai can earn in his country.

Now I am talking about software. Example ADOBE.

What about this:

In some countries in S-E. Asia some software is almost not affordable, even for medium companies.

Trust me, it is much higher than the US $ sales price quoted by Adobe. I.e. the Master Collection has a price tag of

over 3700 US$ if you buy in a local store here in TH!

Higher prices apply to all Adobe products.

I still think Adobe has made a bad mistake in alienating their non-US customers with very unfriendly price policies. Software companies need to rethink its pricing.

I am not supporting piracy but big names, including M$ should wake up and rethink their price policy

and explain their customers why they have to pay 40-50% more for their products when they buy it

outside the US!?!

No, you can't buy it online as your IP will identify you as an Asian customer.

What I just mention does not apply to Asia but for the EU customers too.

All applies for M$ and many others too!

As long this greedy pricing does not change there will the likes like Pirate Bay around. You close one, 3 will open...

I am NOT defending or give an excuse for piracy only tried to give some ideas why the "bad guys" might be around.

And a word to the OP. How do you know that all members on this board are copyright junkies?

Edited April 18, 2009 by webfact

[angiud]

Long life P2P

[taxexile]

Most of us know what an average Thai can earn in his country.

if the thais devoted more energy to inventiveness and developing new products/software instead of just copying and pasting other peoples work then they might find they earn more money.

they are just short termist and lazy. preferring a dollar today than investing to get a million next year.

[webfact]

Most of us know what an average Thai can earn in his country.

if the thais devoted more energy to inventiveness and developing new products/software instead of just copying and pasting other peoples work then they might find they earn more money.

they are just short termist and lazy. preferring a dollar today than investing to get a million next year.

I didn't defend piracy but I mentioned the Thai income to understand things better.

BTW I am not Thai and I bought my Adobe Software in Canada. But do you feel it is correct to charge

40-50% more for a product because you are living outside North America??? What other choice low income groups have?

and... Thais have developed excellent software and I personally find your comment very off-topic!

Edited April 18, 2009 by webfact

[taxexile]

What other choice low income groups have?

its a fact of life the world over, low income groups have limited choice.

if a low income can get you all you want in life where is the incentive to work and increase your income?

i want a bentley but i can only afford a toyota, what should i do?

run crying to bentley demanding lower prices or settle for the toyota and save up for the bentley.

i agree that the pricing of many things here is too high, its probably taxation more than company policy though.

and i have little sympathy when billion dollar organisations grumble about losses due to piracy, but the fact is those companies have made the investment and done the hard work and they should be protected by law.

[MJo]

What other choice low income groups have?

its a fact of life the world over, low income groups have limited choice.

if a low income can get you all you want in life where is the incentive to work and increase your income?

i want a bentley but i can only afford a toyota, what should i do?

run crying to bentley demanding lower prices or settle for the toyota and save up for the bentley.

i agree that the pricing of many things here is too high, its probably taxation more than company policy though.

and i have little sympathy when billion dollar organisations grumble about losses due to piracy, but the fact is those companies have made the investment and done the hard work and they should be protected by law.

Spot on taxexile !

I also wonder where the low income groups have the money to run their latest PC's with 8Meg internet connection to download these torrents. Sure you should have money to rent your dvd's and buy your mp3's for buck a piece if you can afford the expensive hardware and connections ? I mean how many movies you rent for a price of 50k pc and 2k montly connection fees ?

It's up to you if you download, i only wish all ISP's would start limiting speeds for torrent dl's as they are eating the capasity from other users with massive downloads. Some studies show that as much as 75% of all internet traffic in Asia is torrent downloads. Removing these from the traffic would end the constant moaning here about the international connection speeds once and for all !

Now i would really like if someone could start stealing tiger beer from the brewery and make it available in all bars in Bangkok for free of charge. That would really help as i'm usually broke halfway thru the month due my exessive drinking

[spacefruit]

The cartoon says it all.

Cinema's need to improve what they offer. (And to be fair some have)

Many pirated films would never be seen otherwise. I wish the "industry" would stop multiplying estamated number of views x DVD price to get lost revenue. (Or x Cinema ticket).

As to music, I am sure there has to be a better way to compensate the artists than via fat suits.

[Crushdepth]

The public abuses *every* facility available to them. I don't see the difference between P2P and any other kind of service, so why single out P2P operators who don't actually host any files?

But since we're at it, why not charge some Sony executives too? They make all kinds of stuff that can be used to copy digital media - CD/DVD drives, blank disks, USB drives, tapes, video equipment, computers, you name of it. They know some of their gear will be used to break copyright laws and yet they deliberately keep producing it and trying to flog it off to the public with no regard at all for the rights of poor starving artists like Madonna and her record label which is doubtless teetering on the edge of financial ruin. Shameless.

Edited April 18, 2009 by Crushdepth

[MKAsok]

The public abuses *every* facility available to them. I don't see the difference between P2P and any other kind of service, so why single out P2P operators who don't actually host any files?

But since we're at it, why not charge some Sony executives too? They make all kinds of stuff that can be used to copy digital media - CD/DVD drives, blank disks, USB drives, tapes, video equipment, computers, you name of it. They know some of their gear will be used to break copyright laws and yet they deliberately keep producing it and trying to flog it off to the public with no regard at all for the rights of poor starving artists like Madonna and her record label which is doubtless teetering on the edge of financial ruin. Shameless.

Great point. By their own logic, Sony should be taking legal action against themselves for facilitating copyright infringement. The fact is the music, film, software etc. industries remain highly profitable. That's the only reason these whores are involved in them. You can be sure in the highly unlikely event such industries cease to be profitable, they'll be moving straight into selling sugared water, or putting mercury in baby-food or selling Ritalin or whatever. Anyone who thinks companies like Sony or Time Warner or whoever give a &lt;deleted&gt; about the rights of artists is deluded. They are protecting their own right to steal from the people who create things. It's that simple.

[ernest1966]

Funny innit, piracy, when jonn doe does it its piracy, when the movie companies, nick scripts, copy ideas or generally produce &lt;deleted&gt; films that aint piracy is it.

Or when new music talent is locked into x album deals with an absolutely &lt;deleted&gt; contract (because thats the best you're gonna get) that aint piracy.

Take dvds, peanuts in the states, but buy a new film on region 2 in the UK.... Same with blue ray, 2x times the price....

Or even a good tech book, 35quid! Yet when the xrate was $2=1GBP why was a $35 book selling in the UK for 35quid?

[Plus]

You could get a decent PC for the price of 50 legit DVDs here. 50 DVDs would last you what? A couple of months?

You can easily download 50 movies off torrents in the same time frame, but that's not even the point - most Thais can't watch a movie without Thai subtitles, don't blame them.

Also, Thai made movies seem to make the majority of local releases, it varies from year to year, but everytime I show up at a cinema there are as many Thai offerings as Hollywood's.

[dave_boo]

Funny innit, piracy, when jonn doe does it its piracy, when the movie companies, nick scripts, copy ideas or generally produce &lt;deleted&gt; films that aint piracy is it.

Or when new music talent is locked into x album deals with an absolutely &lt;deleted&gt; contract (because thats the best you're gonna get) that aint piracy.

Take dvds, peanuts in the states, but buy a new film on region 2 in the UK.... Same with blue ray, 2x times the price....

Or even a good tech book, 35quid! Yet when the xrate was $2=1GBP why was a $35 book selling in the UK for 35quid?

They were putting the 35 in the wrong exchange rate box....

[Veazer]

It appears that thepiratebay.org is no longer online....

[webfact]

It appears that thepiratebay.org is no longer online....

A quick check a minute ago revealed it's up and running...

Edited April 20, 2009 by webfact

[Veazer]

ahhh, you're right.

it was definitely down at the time though, 'downforeveryoneorjustme.com' reported it as down and i couldn't access it via pr....ummmm.... prox....ohhh, you know what i mean...

[webfact]

ahhh, you're right.

it was definitely down at the time though, 'downforeveryoneorjustme.com' reported it as down and i couldn't access it via pr....ummmm.... prox....ohhh, you know what i mean...

yeah man, the 'thing' we are not supposed to think or speak about...

[goofie]

Est 3 years in the courts yet. It can still run the same and has now become even more famous

[webfact]

Est 3 years in the courts yet. It can still run the same and has now become even more famous

Personally I trust it will end like this story

NAPSTER

Napster

Napster was an online music file sharing service created by Shawn Fanning while he was attending Northeastern University in Boston and operating between June 1999 and July 2001[1]. Its technology allowed people to easily copy and distribute MP3 format song files among each other, bypassing the established market for such songs and thus leading to the music industry's accusations of massive copyright violations. Although the original service was shut down by court order, it paved the way for decentralized peer-to-peer file-sharing programs, which have been much harder to control. The service was named Napster after Fanning's hair style based nickname.

Napster's brand and logo were purchased after the company closed its doors and continue to be used by a pay service. They also maintain: http://free.napster.com/

Shutdown

Napster's facilitation of transfer of copyrighted material raised the ire of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which almost immediately — on December 7, 1999 — filed a lawsuit against the popular service.[10][11] The service would only get bigger as the trial, meant to shut down Napster, also gave it a great deal of publicity. Soon millions of users, many of them college students, flocked to it.

After a failed appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court, an injunction was issued on March 5, 2001 ordering Napster to prevent the trading of copyrighted music on its network.[12] In July 2001, Napster shut down its entire network in order to comply with the injunction. On September 24, 2001, the case was partially settled. Napster agreed to pay music creators and copyright owners a $26 million settlement for past, unauthorized uses of music, as well as an advance against future licensing royalties of $10 million. In order to pay those fees, Napster attempted to convert their free service to a subscription system. Thus traffic to Napster was reduced. A prototype solution was tested in the spring of 2002: the Napster 3.0 Alpha, using the ".nap" secure file format from PlayMedia Systems and audio fingerprinting technology licensed from Relatable. Napster 3.0 was, according to many former Napster employees, ready to deploy, but it had significant trouble obtaining licenses to distribute major-label music.

On May 17, 2002, Napster announced that its assets would be acquired by German media firm Bertelsmann for $85 million. Pursuant to terms of that agreement, on June 3 Napster filed for Chapter 11 protection under United States bankruptcy laws. On September 3, 2002, an American bankruptcy judge blocked the sale to Bertelsmann and forced Napster to liquidate its assets according to Chapter 7 of the U.S. bankruptcy laws.

- From wikipedia -

Edited April 21, 2009 by webfact

[nikster]

The pirate bay is based in Sweden and - following their arguments - in Sweden running a BT tracker is not an offense. Unlike the USA where Napster got shut down for the same kind of thing.

Now we'll see how this plays out in the courts... is it, or isn't it, legal to run a BT tracker in Sweden?

Of course the big evil music industry, which seems to be much more comfortable employing mafia-style tactics to keep their existing profiteering schemes than in adjusting to the market and giving people what they want is now buying European lawmakers and so it will be hard for Sweden to go against the EU consensus (as brought to you by the big evil media hegemony).

Personally, I believe they would cash out like crazy as well as shut down piracy if they offered me what I want. I will pay you as much as it costs to rent a movie, namely $3, if you let me download it from your fast servers in high quality. At that point, I won't go through the trouble of searching for the title on some torrent site, and downloading a copy of questionable quality. I'd much rather pay you $3 and we could all feel good about it.

As it is, one or more of the following apply:

- The movie is not available where I am - silly per-country laws, the sectioning of the globe in local fiefdoms and monopolies are to blame

- The movie is not available at all

- The movie is available for $20

To the above I say: Piratebay is a much better deal. And if it went away tomorrow, and all BT sites went away, I still wouldn't buy your movie for $20. I would opt not to watch it instead.

BTW Sweden is really a pretty excellent country, there's a pirate party running for parliament next election, and I am hoping they get enough votes to make a difference.

Edited April 21, 2009 by nikster

[MTH]

Conflict of interest news popping up. As it's now been known, that the judge in the case, is a member of the same copyright protection organizations as several of the main entertainment industry representatives.

One of the sources: http://www.thelocal.se/19028/20090423/

[webfact]

Conflict of interest news popping up. As it's now been known, that the judge in the case, is a member of the same copyright protection organizations as several of the main entertainment industry representatives.

One of the sources: http://www.thelocal.se/19028/20090423/

Another source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8014626.stm