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The Pirate Bay Takes Over Anti-Piracy Domain

Posted by kdawson on from the heads-will-roll dept.

palpatin writes to let us know that The Pirate Bay has now taken up residence at IFPI.com, a domain once owned by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. The Pirate Bay says the site will now promote the International Federation of Pirates Interests. IFPI can still be reached at ifpi.org. Torrentfreak has up a brief interview with Brokep, one of the administrators of The Pirate Bay, who says: "It's not a hack, someone just gave us the domain name. We have no idea how they got it, but it's ours and we're keeping it."

8 of 212 comments (clear)

  1. Legality? by CRCulver · · Score: 5, Interesting

    While I admire The Pirate Bay for taking advantage of Swedish law to freely host torrents, I wonder about the legality of this. How has Swedish law generally treated trademarks and domain names?

    1. Re:Legality? by ag0ny · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You can have a trademark all you want, if someone has at least the same "reason" to have a domain, you have no case.

      Unfortunately, there are judges who don't agree with you:

      Nissan Motors vs. Uzi Nissan

      --
      My site
    2. Re:Legality? by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Interesting

      If they really sue on those grounds, they may get the URL but lose more.

      Reminds me of a case where a sleazy tabloid sued a parody site which was quite similar to their online presence, only a letter different in the URL. They took press agency messages, then cited arbitrary and with the intent to twist the words and meanings around, doctored pictures and generally were about as sensationalist as possible. When there wasn't anything going on, they simply made up stories.

      They were sued on grounds of being "too similar" and that there is a danger that someone could mistakenly land on their parody page and think it's the real tabloid. And the tabloid won.

      Tells you something about judges. And even more about people reading certain tabloids, or rather, what is to be expected from them.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:Legality? by ubrgeek · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You mean something like this? http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/11/06/microsoft_forgets_to_renew_hotmail/

      --
      Bark less. Wag more.
  2. dotcom by Klaidas · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Sure, but the .org one is still active.
    .com must have expired and was registered by someone - maybe it wasn't really that popular? (Um, popular as in "under heavy use"/"meaning something to someone")
    Hey, this IS funny - but not really such a big deal if examined closely.

    1. Re:dotcom by Aladrin · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I think it's hilarious, if a bit cruel. So far, I'd probably have done the same thing, though.

      The turning point will come when the original IFPI asks for the domain back. I'd let them buy it from me at normal cost, and reimburse the guy who snagged it. Will they? I don't think they did anything illegal, so they are under no obligation to help an organization that is dead set on putting them out of business. It'll probably depend on the IFPI's reaction, I guess.

      No matter how you look at it, this is interesting and will be fun to watch, as with everything TPB does.

      --
      "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
  3. GO, PIRATES GO! by eiapoce · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The IFPI. I hate them. They tend to play in europe the same role as the RIAA in USA. With the difference that in Europe States have actual laws that private firms are bound to respect: trivial things like privacy and the concept that the State actually runs the law instead of mediadefender.

    So far their intimidating letters and scary tactics have fired back all the way. (I have seen one they sent to the guy at the Network managment of my uni a few years ago). I can just hail to the new domain!

  4. Time for a name change perhaps? by Ilex · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Having a name that always parses as "The International Federation of the Pornographic Industry" is not just silly but shows how resistant to change the recording industry really is. I mean when was the last time you actually saw let alone played a Phonograph?