By LOUISE NORDSTROM , 09.28.10, 10:31 AM EDT http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2010/09/28/general-eu-sweden-pirate-bay_7 965939.html?boxes=Homepagebusinessnews
STOCKHOLM -- One of the four defendants failed to show up in court Tuesday at the start of the second round in the battle between file-sharing website The Pirate Bay and the entertainment industry. Defense lawyer Ola Salomonsson said he had received text messages from Gottfrid Svartholm Warg's mother, saying her son had fallen ill in Cambodia and wouldn't appear in front of the Svea Court of Appeal. A lower court last year convicted Svartholm Warg, along with Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij and Carl Lundstrom, of assisting to copyright infringement by helping millions of Pirate Bay users illegally download music, movies and computer games. They were sentenced to one year in prison each and ordered to pay 30 million kronor ($4.4 million) in damages to entertainment industry groups, including Warner Bros., Sony ( SNE - news - people ) Music Entertainment, EMI and Columbia Pictures. The Pirate Bay, however, remains in operation. All four defendants have denied the charges, and their defense lawyers argue they should be acquitted because The Pirate Bay doesn't actually host any copyright-protected material itself. Instead, it provides a forum for its users to download content through so-called torrent files. The technology allows users to transfer parts of a large file from several different users, increasing download speeds. The appeals court gave Svartholm Warg until Oct. 7 to produce a doctor's certificate and have his case tested in a separate hearing. If he fails to meet the deadline, the district court ruling against him will stand. "He has told me all along that he wants to be here. That's what makes me believe that this is a medical condition," Salomonsson said. Sunde said he felt assured the previous verdict would be overturned. "I think our chances are good. It will be difficult to make a similar judgment this time," he said. "I don't see Pirate Bay as something illegal at all." Prosecutor Hakan Roswall said he found "it hard to believe" the ruling would be overturned. Andre Rickardsson, an expert on file-sharing and information technology security at Sweden's Bitsec Consulting, said he sees a 50-50 percent chance that the verdict is upheld but believes the sentences will be reduced. "No one has been sentenced to prison for file-sharing (in Sweden)," he said. Rickardsson also noted The Pirate Bay has changed since the 2009 verdict, because developments in torrent technology mean it no longer needs its own bit-torrent tracker - a server that assists the communication between file-sharers. The 2009 court case focused on dozens of works that the prosecutor said were downloaded illegally. They included songs by the Beatles, Robbie Williams and Coldplay, movies such as "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and computer games including "World of Warcraft - Invasion." The lower court said Svartholm Warg, Sunde and Neij were administering the site, while Lundstrom helped finance it. Associated Press writer Malin Rising contributed to this report. _______________________________________________ Medianews mailing list Medianews@etskywarn.net http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
