Dutch Court Orders Pirate Bay to Set Sail

It’s not easy being a pirate. In April, the four men who run The Pirate Bay (TPB) were found guilty of violating Swedish copyright law. In the past week, reports surfaced that that Global Gaming Factory, the Swedish firm that plans to purchase TPB and turn it legit, might not be able to dredge up the cash to buy the notorious torrent tracking site. And now the Dutch have ordered TPB to leave the Netherlands or face a hefty fine.

The Associated Press is reporting that a Dutch court has given The Pirate Bay just ten days to block traffic to its site. Failing to comply will result in a fine of €30,000 euros ($42,000) per day. The written ruling ordered TPB to “to stop and keep stopped the infringements on copyright and related rights of Stichting Brein in the Netherlands”

The Netherlands-based Stichting Brein is a group funded by several copyright-holder organizations, the AP reports.

The Dutch court ruling is another blow to The Pirate Bay, which appears to be sinking fast.

Global Gaming Factory hopes to relaunch TPB with a new business model, one that pays royalty fees to copyright holders. Under the new system, users would pay a small monthly fee based on a seemingly complex formula tied to their PCs’ computing resources and content consumption.

In its current incarnation, The Pirate Bay provides its 20 million-plus users with an index of BitTorrent files. The site allows users to trade copyright-protected material, including music, movies, and video games.