As the landmark trial of Swedish file sharing website The Pirate Bay gets underway, representatives of the global entertainment industry have been on something of a publicity campaign to drum up support against what they consider outright theft. Four people involved in the popular website are standing trial for copyright infringement in what could set the precedent for many more cases around the world.
Swedish Pirate Party chairman Rick Falkvinge gave his opinion in The Local newspaper, saying: “It’s not the operators as individuals that are on trial, it’s what the establishment regards as a threat to their society – the pervasive youth culture of freely exchanging culture and knowledge.”
Major leaders of the international entertainment industry have a different take on the issue. “The people behind The Pirate Bay have not only enabled the violation of artists’ rights on a global scale, they have done so for commercial purposes. This has been shown in the preliminary investigation and will become evident during the case,” said Henrik Ponten, a lawyer for the Swedish Anti-Piracy Agency (APB), which is representing several Swedish film companies involved in the case. The trial will be held in Stockholm District Court.