Lawyers for the Pirate Bay have given their closing arguments in the case against the site, claiming the site offers “completely legal technology” and that what’s done with it is “an internet problem, not a Pirate Bay problem.”
Attorneys representing Pirate Bay owners Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundström argued that while much of the material shared through the site is copyrighted, there is no evidence whatsoever that it is intended specifically for the purposes of piracy, nor that the owners have made any money on it at all. “It is a completely legal technology that is offered by The Pirate Bay. It is an open site where users themselves upload content. There is certainly a lot of copyrighted material but this is an internet problem, not a Pirate Bay problem,” lawyer Jonas Nilsson said.
“Bit torrent technology can be used for both legal and illegal means on Pirate Bay in the same way as by Google or MySpace,” he continued. “That someone at the Pirate Bay has a cocky attitude or certain political standpoint is not sufficient to issue a guilty verdict.”
Prosecutors have requested one-year prison sentences for the four men while a group of media companies are seeking roughly $12.5 million in damages resulting from revenues lost as a result of the files downloaded via the site. “Song writers and publishers all over the world are dependent on having their rights protected by law. The Pirate Bay is disregarding those rights and abusing the creativity of the people who own them,” said International Confederation of Music Publishers Secretary General Ger Hatton. “We are pleased to see the creative community taking a stand in Sweden and we hope the court will deliver an appropriate judgment making it clear that it is not acceptable to run a business based on the violation of the rights of creators.”
A verdict in the case is not expected until April.
