Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundstrom, the founders of infamous torrent tracker The Pirate Bay have lost their appeal this week, in a file sharing case that convicted each of helping millions of users break Swedish copyright law.
The Svea Appeals Court upheld the convictions on all three men, but reduced their possible jail time to 4-10 months, down from one year.
However, the appeals court raised the penalty the men will have to pay the entertainment industry to $6.5 million, up from $4.5 million in the lower court.
The Pirate Bay remains one of the top public torrent trackers, despite numerous attempts from different agencies and governments to shut it down. The site has 4.7 million registered users, and over 3 million torrents available, offering up unauthorized music, movies, games and software in the mix.
Neij, Sunde and Lundstrom have each denied any wrongdoing, claiming they cannot be held liable as the site does not actually host any of the pirated material.
The founders plan to appeal to the Supreme Court.
However, the appeals court raised the penalty the men will have to pay the entertainment industry to $6.5 million, up from $4.5 million in the lower court.
The Pirate Bay remains one of the top public torrent trackers, despite numerous attempts from different agencies and governments to shut it down. The site has 4.7 million registered users, and over 3 million torrents available, offering up unauthorized music, movies, games and software in the mix.
Neij, Sunde and Lundstrom have each denied any wrongdoing, claiming they cannot be held liable as the site does not actually host any of the pirated material.
The founders plan to appeal to the Supreme Court.
