A group of Swedes have gone on trial for copyright theft in a case that could have serious ramifications for the practice of sharing of content online.
The founders of the Pirate Bay - one of the world's most well-known file-sharing networks - have gone on trial in their native Sweden.
Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde Kolmsioppi and Carl Lundstorm stand accused of copyright theft, but argue that their site is completely legal. The Pirate Bay does not actually host any copied content, but contains links to places on the internet where users can download copied music, films and television programmes.
In a webcast, some of the defendants said prosecutors would fail to win. "What are they going to do about it? They have already failed to take down the site once. Let them fail again," said Mr Warg, who, along with his co-defendants, could face two years in prison if found guilty.
The men have styled themselves as internet libertarians, taking control of content and culture out of the hands of corporations and into the public domain. However, the chairman of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, John Kennedy, said that this attitude impacted on the very people creating the content.
"The Pirate Bay has hurt creators of many different kinds of works, from music to film, from books to TV programmes," he said. "It has been particularly harmful in distributing copyrighted works prior to their official release."
