The Pirate Bay Sold For $7.7 Million, Goes Legal

The popular Torrent site The Pirate Bay was sold today to the Swedish software company Global Gaming Factory X (GGF), for the relatively low price of 60 million kronor ($7.7 million). The change in ownership of the file sharing site is set for August 2009. On the Pirate Bay Blog, the owners say that the profits “will go into a foundation that is going to help with projects about freedom of speech, freedom of information and the openness of the nets.”

The new owners seem intent on changing the way the site will function in the future. Hans Pandeya, CEO of GFF, said that they “would like to introduce models which entail that content providers and copyright owners get paid for content that is downloaded via the site.” Read more...

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Swedish Pirate Party Headed For European Parliament

The European Parliament elections were held yesterday, June 7, and the Swedish Pirate Party, with 7 percent of the vote, is guaranteed at least one seat in EU Parliament in Brussels, Belgium. The Pirate Party is the largest party in the 18-30 age range of voters, and is the fifth largest party in Sweden.

The Pirate Party has the potential to gain yet another seat when the final counting, which will include around a million postal votes, will be done later next week. The Party aims to reform copyright and patent law, and also defends Internet privacy and the freedom of sharing information. Continue reading...

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Musicians In Favor Of Pirate Bay

Swedish music group Advance Patrol was referenced by prosecutors in the Pirate Bay trial, and they aren’t happy about it: Gonza from Advance Patrol explains:

We never asked to be plaintiffs in this case. They used us as scapegoats in a fight in which we don’t wish to participate. We refuse to be used in a war against our fans.

Advance Patrol argues that file sharers are the most dedicated fans of their music, not criminals, and they’ve released their latest album, El Futuro, as a free torrent on Pirate Bay. Continue reading...

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Study: File Sharing Guarantees Sales

The BI Norwegian School of Management reports that file sharers buy 10 times more music than those who don’t download for free. Researchers surveyed almost 2,000 online music users, all over the age of 15, and indicate that file sharing is a reliable source of income for the music industry. Continue reading...

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Record Store Day Boosts Sales, Pirate Bay Reaction

Indie and major labels produced 82 limited-edition exclusive releases for Record Store Day, and most of the indie stores sold considerably better than last year’s Record Store Day. Michael Kurtz, executive director of the Music Monitor Network, told Billboard that “the majority of the stores had matched last year’s volume by mid-afternoon.” Read more...

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Pirate Bay Verdict: Guilty

In a landmark ruling, the Stockholm district court found the Pirate Bay’s operators guilty of breaking copyright law, sentencing Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm, Carl Lundström and Peter Sunde to one year in jail and $3.6 million in fines to be paid to a number of entertainment companies, including Warner Bros, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI, and Columbia Pictures. Continue reading...

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The Pirate Bay Torrents on Facebook

The Pirate Bay has extended its file sharing system to social networking site Facebook. With a single click, Facebook users can add torrents to their profile from the Pirate Bay to share with friends, a development that could put Facebook in the middle of the copyright battle between copyright holders and the torrent site. Continue reading...

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The Pirate Bay to Launch Anonymous Downloading Service

The Pirate Bay is planning to launch a paid Virtual Private Network (VPN) service, which carries information through open connections rather than a running across a single private network. The service would be used by file sharers to maintain anonymity on the internet, and is expected to go public next week for $5 per month. Read more...

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The Pirate Bay Trial Ends: Innocent or Guilty?

After two weeks of fast paced litigation, the Pirate Bay ‘Spectrial’ has come to a close. In the final days of the trial this week, the prosecution called for jail time for the defendants, which the defense lawyers refuted in their closing statements. Continue reading...

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Pirate Bay Trial Day 9: BitTorrent Isn’t Illegal

The Pirate Bay Trial is advancing rapidly, yesterday John Kennedy, the chief executive of the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI) explained how piracy was responsible for the downfall of the music industry, and declared the $2.67 million fine “justified and maybe even conservative because the damage is immense“. Continue reading...

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The Pirate Bay Trial Day 3: The King Kong Defense

After half of the charges were dropped against The Pirate Bay’s operators yesterday, the third day of the trial was marked by the prosecution presenting amended charges and the defense globally calling for an acquittal. Notably, Carl Lundstrom’s lawyer presented an argument that has been dubbed the “King Kong” defense, which already has a (contested) Wikipedia entry that delves into the new uncharted legal territory. Continue reading...

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Pirate Bay, Twisten.fm, Roland on iPhone

The Pirate Bay gets a break in court, Twisten.fm scours the sea of Tweets for music, and the newest iPhone app lets you use Roland synths and drum machines. Check out the news: Read more...

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Follow The Pirate Bay’s Spectrial

The Pirate Bay is in court today, as previously reported, and the “spectrial” is being transmitted live. You can follow the proceedings via live audio feed and twitter. Read more...

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The Pirate Bay Stands Trial On Monday

The Pirate Bay operators Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundström stand trial on Monday in Stockholm. The four defendants are accused of “promoting other people’s infringements of copyright laws” and face up to two years in prison and SEK 1.2 million in fines. Read more...

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