The Pirate Bay takes bias allegations to Supreme Court
The Pirate Bay four, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundstrom, were found guilty of assisting in making copyrighted materials available. The sentence handed down was a US$905 000 (±R 6.64 million) fine and one year in prison for each.
An appeal was swiftly made. Under Swedish law, no sentence is final until all appeal processes have been completed. The Pirate Bay has continued operate despite being chased from a number of service providers over the months.
The four were denied concurrent requests by the Swedish Appeal Court, one of which related to allegations of bias. Two of the judges appointed to sit at the appeal trial are linked to pro-copyright groups, raising questions of their objectivity in the matter.
Per Samuelson, lawyer for the defendants, intends to take the bias question to the Supreme Court. This has caused the appeal trial date to be postponed pending the outcome of the bias questions at the Supreme Court.
This process is likely to stretch into the middle of 2010, and The Pirate Bay will undoubtedly continue to operate during this time.
The Pirate Bay trial – comments and views
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