Record Companies Step up Crusade Against Pirate Bay

Four record companies want to close the Pirate Bay file sharing service and have filed a motion with the Stockholm district court to fine the people behind the operation as long as its users can access copyright-protected material.

Last month the site's operators were found guilty of copyright violations, sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to pay damages of 30 million Swedish kronor (US$3.9 million). But that didn't stop the site from making music available for download, which record companies such as Universal, EMI, Sony and Warner are not happy about.

To back up the motion, 467 albums have been downloaded and shown to include content that the record companies own the copyrights to.

The filing is directed at the site's operators and also Black Internet AB, which has been named because it provides Internet access to the site, according to the record companies.

Victor Möller, CEO at Black Internet, isn't happy about becoming involved in the battle between copyright owners and Pirate Bay. The operator is selling capacity to DCP Networks, which in turn has Pirate Bay as its customer, so it isn't even directly involved with the site, according to Möller. Also, trying to force an operator to close down is completely insane and a very slippery slope, he said.

The record companies are keeping mum on the latest developments in the case against Pirate Bay. IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), which represents the interests of the record companies and has been very vocal in the past, didn't want to comment, according to a spokeswoman.