The Helsinki Court of Appeal has confirmed that Peter Sunde, the co-founder and former administrator of The Pirate Bay, violated the rights of various record companies. According to the Court, Sunde helped to distribute copyrighted recordings via the torrent site between 2005 and 2009.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
As part of the entertainment industries’ mission to have infringing sites blocked by ISPs in Finland, in 2011 the Helsinki District court ordered local ISP Elisa to block The Pirate Bay to prevent music piracy.
A year later, IPFI filed a lawsuit against two other providers and the administrators of the Pirate Bay, demanding that the former restrict access and the latter cease-and-desist their activities.
In 2016 and after the operators of the site failed to respond, the Helsinki District Court handed down a default judgment requiring site co-founder Peter Sunde to pay several record labels including Sony, Universal, Warner and EMI, around €350,000 in damages. On top, Sunde was restrained from any further infringement on pain of a €1,000,000 penalty.
Better Result for Sunde at District Court
Sunde appealed the decision and in 2018 the District Court agreed to drop the €1m threat. In addition, the recording labels dropped their €350,000 damages claim. Sunde was kept on the hook for around €7,700 in various costs, however.
In its decision, the Court found that Peter Sunde was liable for infringements that took place via The Pirate Bay only between 2010 and 2014, citing Sunde’s involvement in a trademark dispute centering on the Pirate Bay’s logo that took place in that period. Sunde, however, said he only stepped into that matter as a public duty and was not involved in the site.
Both parties appealed the District Court’s decision to the Helsinki Court of Appeal. Sunde said the action was inadmissible since it hadn’t been heard on its merits and asked for the case to dismissed in its entirety.
The record companies said that Sunde should be held responsible for copyright infringement from July 2005 onwards and should be prevented from any further breaches under the threat of a €1,000,000 penalty.
Court of Appeal Hands Down Decision
The Court handed down its decision Friday, noting that it had only been proven that Peter Sunde acted as an operator of The Pirate Bay between July 2005 until August 2009 and was therefore only responsible for infringement that took place during this period. There was no evidence to show that Sunde had been involved in the site later on.
“The defendant is prohibited from repeating the infringements under threat of a fine of EUR 35,000. The Court of Appeal found that it was competent to also hear the case in respect of the distribution of recordings via Swedish telecommunications operators on the grounds that the defendant was domiciled in Finland and the recordings had been available in Finland,” the Court’s summary of the decision reads.
Sunde was also ordered to pay legal and other costs totaling around €19,200. Anti-piracy group TTVK welcomed the decision.
“The judgment of the Court of Appeal is clear and well reasoned. Naturally, we welcome that and hope that the long process for Sunde will end here. It is good to remember that the original and most important goal of the right holders was to prevent the operation of the world’s most popular pirate service in Finland,” the TTVK statement reads.
IFPI also welcomed the decision but complained that despite all of the work and numerous legal processes, The Pirate Bay remains stubbornly online.
“We welcome the decision from the court today. Copyright infringement harms the music ecosystem and prevents music creators from being fairly compensated,” IFPI says.
“Right holders have been forced to pursue The Pirate Bay across multiple jurisdictions in Europe over a ten-year period. Despite a vast number of court decisions confirming the illegality of the service, The Pirate Bay remains available in many countries within the EU. A successful digital single market requires effective measures so that creators can enforce their rights across the EU.”
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
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