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CASE STUDY

The

Pirate

Bay:

The World's Most Resilient Copyright Infringer?

he Pirate Bay (TPB), a Swedish Web site (Piratebay.org), is one of the world's most popular pirated music and content sites, offering free access to millions of copyrighted songs and thousands of copyrighted Hollywood movies. In June 2011, The Pirate Bay reported that it h ad about 5 million registered users, and 25 million non-registered users (so-called "free riders"). To put that number in p erspective, consider that it is nearly three times the population of Sweden itself (9 million). The Pirate Bay is regularly in the top 100 most popular Web sites in the world, and reach es 1 % of the global Internet popula­ tion, according to Internet analysts in 20ll. …show more content…

The court said "By providing a website with ". well-developed search func­ tions, easy uploading and storage possibilities, and with a tracker linked to the web­ site, the accused have incited the crimes that the file sharers have committed." The court also said that the four defendants had been aware of the fact that copyrighted material was shared with the help of their site. The prison sentence was justified by "extensive accessibility of others' copyrights and the fact that the operation was con­ ducted commercially and in an organized fashion." In other words, the court believed the defendants were engaged in a commercial enterprise, the basis of which was encouraging visitors to violate the copyrights of owners. In fact, the primary purpose of The Pirate Bay was to violate copyrights in order to make money for the owners (commercial intent).

"Enable," "induce," and "encourage" copyright infringement and "intent to sell" are key words in this ruling and The Pirate Bay case. These concepts grounded in Western law are not "disabled" by new technology, but instead can be, and are, extensible to new technologies, and used to shape technology to society's needs and wishes. Indeed, there's a consensus developing among prosecutors and courts world­ wide that infringement is not justified simply because it's technically possible to do it

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