Pirate Bay Scores Rare Legal Victory

A District Court in Stockholm, Sweden, last week ruled against an international group of content providers who sought to force a local Internet service provider to block The Pirate Bay, a file-sharing site, said lawyers for the plaintiffs.

The content providers — including Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music, Nordisc Film and the Swedish Film Industry — had filed a lawsuit suit to compel ISP Bredbandsbolaget to block The Pirate Bay from operating in Sweden, part of an international effort to shut down the site in different jurisdictions. Although it repeatedly has been shut down by law enforcement authorities, The Pirate Bay inevitably has reappeared, with its service hosted in different countries.

The Pirate Bay site was shut down after police raided the company’s offices in December 2014, reportedly seizing equipment and making at least one arrest. However, it later resurfaced.

“The Swedish District Court has decided to view blocking orders as an entirely internal Swedish affair,” said attorney Henrik Bengtsson, who represents the plaintiffs.

“Contributory liability on behalf of the ISP is required to issue a blocking injunction,” he told the E-Commerce Times.

The ruling directly contradicts a recent decision by the German Supreme Court, Bengtsson said, and the plaintiffs plan to appeal the decision.

Costly Practice

Piracy has cost the entertainment business in a big way, according to the Swedish Film and Television Cooperation Committee.

Sixty percent of viewers aged 16 to 29 use illegal services to watch television and film in Sweden, costing the local film industry US$100 million a year, according to the group.

“This appears to be a huge win for Pirate Bay, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

“The question is whether it came too late, as the service has been effectively shut down for some time,” he told the E-Commerce Times.

“This is a sensible ruling that will help protect free expression in Sweden,” said Mitch Stoltz, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

“The court recognized that Internet service providers shouldn’t be held responsible for copyright infringement by their customers,” he told the E-Commerce Times.

If ISPs are held liable for their customers’ behavior then ISPs would have a huge incentive to snoop into the activities of their customers, Stoltz said.

Putting ISPs in charge of monitoring the private activities of their customers would be a dangerous precedent, he added.

Temporary Setback

The ruling is a setback for the Recording Industry Association of America, which is trying to crack down on copyright theft, noted Ian Trump, security lead for LogicNow.

However, The Pirate Bay’s victory likely will be short-lived, he said, because the RIAA and other organizations have a major incentive to work together and protect the rights of content makers.

“What Sweden does not want to happen is to be treated like an international pariah, in league with Russia and other countries when it comes to legal regard for copyright,” Trump told the E-Commerce Times. “Clearly, the pirates have won a short-term victory, but rest assured the epic battle between media companies and pirates will play out in the courts.”

Although the battles over copyright law and free expression are expected to drag through the international court systems, the most efficient way to fight piracy is through the distribution system, maintained Eli Dourado, director of the Technology Policy Program at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center.

“The best way to fight piracy has never been through the courts,” he told the E-Commerce Times. “Rather, content companies should focus on giving consumers convenient and timely access to digital content. When consumers have great options that are legal, very few of them will turn to piracy.”

David Jones is a freelance writer based in Essex County, New Jersey. He has written for Reuters, Bloomberg, Crain's New York Business and The New York Times.

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