In a 19 April blog entry, Carl Lundström, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Warg and Peter Kolmisoppi said that they are relying on a lengthy Swedish court appeal to take momentum out of their convictions for assisting the distribution of illegal web content. In the interim, said the group, Pirate Bay will continue to run. The announcement follows intense condemnation of the site by media-industry arms of the IP community.
Pirate Bay described the verdict handed down in a Stockholm court as nothing more than a 'speed bump on the information super highway'. The managers added that the verdict 'has already been appealed by us and will be taken to the next level (and that will take another two or three years)'. Vowing that the site 'will live on', the group said that its user statistics provided enough justification for its core activity of sourcing files in BitTorrent format, a prominent mode for transferring sound and video. Pirate Bay has repeatedly refused to comply with cease-and-desist requests issued by major media companies whose works have been trafficked by the site. It has even mocked such requests on one of its web pages. In its answer to each legal notice, Pirate Bay says that it will continue to distribute the film, song or videogame in question for free.
For IP professionals, perhaps the most concerning aspect of the case is the way in which it has galvanised pro-infringement elements in the technology debate. This week it emerged that Sweden's Pirate Party a group that aims to drive anti-copyright policy by fielding candidates to the European Parliament has registered 22,000 new members since the verdict was announced. Party vice president Christian Engström said: 'I think the verdict was just the final straw for a lot of people. We saw the same phenomenon after the raid against Pirate Bay in 2006, when our member count increased from 2,000 to 6,000. And it seems like the people who have become members in the last few days are a little older compared to our previous members.'
Formed in 2006, the Pirate Party runs on a three-issue programme of copyright reform, patent abolition and online privacy. With 37,000 members registered by 22 April, it is encouraging the development of similar parties around the world. The rise of an organised and dedicated anti-copyright lobby is likely to spur rights holders into examining how they watch for infringement, and take the necessary steps to defend their IP.
The pro-infringement phenomenon will grate with the plethora of groups that hailed the verdict. In its wake Jonas Sjöström, chairman of the Swedish Independent Music Producers Association, said: 'This a great verdict for Sweden's independent music labels which are trying to build their businesses by licensing legitimate services. Pirate Bay has no place in this legitimate business and the court has made that clear. They had no respect for creators or artists, or the labels that invest in them. This was the right verdict and the whole creative community should be happy with the outcome.'
John Kennedy, chairman and CEO of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), said: 'The trial of the operators of Pirate Bay was about defending the rights of creators, confirming the illegality of the service and creating a fair environment for legal music services This is good news for everyone, in Sweden and internationally, who is making a living or a business from creative activity and who needs to know their rights will protected by law.'
