The Pirate Bay remains defiant January 31, 2008 Web User
A public prosecutor in Sweden has filed charges of preparing and participating in copyright infringement against four individuals involved in The Pirate Bay file-sharing network.
The four people facing charges today are Carl Lundstrom, Peter Sunde, Frederik Neij and Gottfrid Svartholm Warg.
However, the Pirate Bay remained defiant in the face of the lawsuit and said that even if it lost the case it wouldn't stop its operations.
"In case we lose the pending trial (yeah right) there will still not be any changes to the site. The Pirate Bay will keep operating just as always. We've been here for years and we will be here many more," said a message posted on the Pirate Bay blog.
The site tells surfers all over the world where to download content including music, videos and software for free.
The content is often subject to copyright laws and many organisations have attempted, unsuccessfully, to prosecute The Pirate Bay.
Record labels such as Warner Bros and companies including Microsoft and Apple have attempted to take legal action against the network before but The Pirate Bay has resisted, saying that no torrents will ever be removed from the site.
John Kennedy, chairman of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, was optimistic that the new charges could see the site closed for good.
"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," he said.
"We welcome the filing of these charges in Sweden. The evidence presented by the prosecutor shows that The Pirate Bay, which claims to be motivated by idealism, is really motivated by making money," Kennedy continued.
Last year, The Pirate Bay tried to take legal action of its own when an email leaked from a company called MediaDefender, who had allegedly been hired to put a stop to The Pirate Bay's operations, suggested that some record labels had been trying to sabotage its network.
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A public prosecutor in Sweden has filed charges of preparing and participating in copyright infringement against four individuals involved in The Pirate Bay file-sharing network.
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Claire Woffenden, Editor
