Record Labels Attempt To Stretch Pirate Bay Ruling Rejected For Now
from the not-yet-guys dept
Last week, we noted that the major record labels were already trying to stretch the disputed ruling in The Pirate Bay case, pushing to get the site taken offline and to increase the damages for every day the site stays online. It was notable that the original ruling, while fining the four defendants and giving them jail time, included no injunction to take the site down or any formula for continuing fines. That’s no problem for the record labels, who just asked the court to add those fines anyway. At least initially, that strategy appears to have failed, as the court has rejected the request, at least until The Pirate Bay defendants have a chance to respond. Once again, though, it’s fascinating to watch the record labels slowly realizing that the “big win” they thought they got from the case has been pretty much the exact opposite of what they hoped for. It didn’t shut down the site. It increased interest in the site and the political movement behind it. And it exposed a potentially biased judge. At some point, you have to wonder if the recording industry would have been better off just letting the obscure (at the time) Swedish site continue living in obscurity, rather than generating all sorts of attention by trying to get it shut down.
Filed Under: sweden
Companies: the pirate bay
Comments on “Record Labels Attempt To Stretch Pirate Bay Ruling Rejected For Now”
Obscurity No More
While the labels may or may not be getting what they originally came in for, I’m fairly confident that the once obscure Pirate Bay would not have remained underground for too long despite the court battles: they are and have been notorious for public antics and general authority defiance that tends to make at least minor headlines.
Re: Obscurity No More
In order to have that “notorious [propensity] for public antics and general authority defiance that tends to make at least minor headlines” you have to have a following.
If you don’t have the crowd around you, no matter how loud you are, you’ll remain in obscurity.
The kind of PR your talking about must first start with word of mouth and grow into something newsworthy for the local press, and only then can the situation make it to the mainstream.
As an example, jerkass over there, being nobody in particular, starts making an ass of himself in public (as hes want to do being a jerkass) those around him take notice and either cheer or ignore him.
The cops do not know of the jerkass until some uptight zealot conservative calls in about the public distrubance. When the cops arrest him, there *may* be a footnote in the local press about it, but the mainstream press couldn’t care less.
Now make that something newsworthy like… a giant multinational conglomerant being twisted in knots by a small group of people running a website in another country, who are operating lawfully in that country.
Continue the media coverage when that conglomerant bribes the police of another country to raid the law abiding citizens homes and data center hosted property, and generate more headlines when you take them to court of your publically bought off the judge to levy fines/jailtime.
See the difference? TPB would have remained much smaller than it is now because the free advertising the IFPI has given them wouldn’t have attracted the thousands of new users that have flocked to TPB once they heard of it.
^ which is good
“while fining the four defendants and giving them jail time”
Yet Bayer gets away with selling Aids tainted blood (and the FDA allowed it) and NO ONE goes to jail. This nation is in favor of rich and powerful corporations over that of the interests of the people.
Re: Re:
Yet Bayer gets away with KNOWINGLY selling Aids tainted blood …
Re: Re:
Ummm.. The Pirate Bay is not based in the States, it’s in Sweden.
And if, by stating “This nation…,” you mean the United States, then this nation does not favor corporations over the people. Greedy jackasses do. And more greedy jackasses sit in power in Congress than anywhere else.
Re: Re: Re:
“Ummm.. The Pirate Bay is not based in the States, it’s in Sweden.”
I know.
“”This nation…,” you mean the United States, then this nation does not favor corporations over the people. Greedy jackasses do.”
I don’t disagree, I was referring to those in charge of this nation I suppose. I should have been more specific.
Minister of Culture calls TPB's business "theft"
“as the court has rejected the request, at least until The Pirate Bay defendants have a chance to respond“
with an emphasis on the latter. The court rejected only the request to make this an urgent matter and not give the defendants a chance to respond. Considering among other things that the investigation against TPB has been gong on for several years, this request for urgent response was bound to fail. But the court hasn’t decided about the injunction, so what we see is just a delay where the TPB guys are given the opportunity to present their arguments.
More interestingly perhaps, there were some other news yesterday. In Sweden the head of a government department does not have the right to influence or decide how individual cases at government agencies should be handled – in fact, it’s unconstitutional to do so. However, at a party with SKAP, a Swedish music composer’s association, the Swedish minister of culture said in a speech that she welcomed the verdict against the Pirate Bay. This has now created a lot of reactions since the verdict has been appealed and we haven’t seen a final decision yet (and there are also the bias issues that might lead to a re-trial).
In a radio interview today she said that she had not commented on the penalties/damages, but she added: “I look upon this, and I guess the court has viewed it in the same way, as theft. And there are certain penalties for theft.”
TorrentFreak coverage
The minister incident is apparently also covered by TorrentFreak:
http://torrentfreak.com/swedish-minister-takes-anti-pirate-bay-stance-090526/
The minister’s comments are not out of line, as she was refering to a judgement rendered, not a case pending. There may be appeals and other things pending, but there is a judgement and she commented only on that.
” at least until The Pirate Bay defendants have a chance to respond”
Is exactly the very important words here, the music people are pushing to get things done faster, but the appeals process may take some time. In the end, TPB guys will likely find themselves on the losing end of the battle, and the closure will come. They just get a little more time in the sun and some more time to sock money away offshore, income from NOT selling ads.
Obscure?
The Pirate Bay was obscure? Maybe as far as the politics go, but among the internet, it was one of the most popular torrent trackers, even before the trial. No?
Re: Obscure?
the pirate bay before the lawsuit has always been among the top 100 internet sites in the world, where do you get obscure?They are infamous not famous ,they are theives and have become rich off this site while acting like they are doing the public a great service ,they are no better than huge corporations that rape the public and the earth ,don’t be so naieve
Re: Re: Obscure?
I had never heard of TPB until a previous legal attack was launched at them (last year some time I think). I actually think I first heard about them on this site…
hmm, I guess that means…
TECHDIRT ENCOURAGES PIRATE ACTIVITY!!1!111111
We should stop Mike, just think of the children.
but they aren't expecting a government bailout, so they are better
“they are no better than huge corporations that rape the public and the earth ,don’t be so naieve”
The only difference is that they aren’t expecting the government to come in and hand them billions of dollars to continue screwing the public… so you see there IS a difference, if they fail, they will actually fail, not be bailed out by government handouts to support their exec’s 7 figure bonuses.