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Warner Bros. Acquires The Pirate Bay

Posted by Soulskill on from the if-you-can't-beat-'em dept.

mlingojones writes "TorrentFreak breaks the news of The Pirate Bay's acquisition by Warner Bros: 'After years of hostility, lawsuits, police raids and heated invective between the two groups, the Pirate Bay has today announced they have settled their differences with US media conglomerate Warner Bros. The largest BitTorrent tracker has sold out to Hollywood and the two have agreed a deal.'"

29 of 348 comments (clear)

  1. Oh well by Squiffy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, that's the end of that.

    1. Re:Oh well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      In other news, The Pirate Bay settled with the RIAA/MPAA today.

      In the agreement, TPB will pay RIAA/MPAA a licensing fee for every song they sell. RIAA/MPAA lawyers hailed the deal as ground breaking.

      TPB managed to keep a straight face long enough to get out of the room before laughing themselves silly at the RIAA/MPAA stupidity!

    2. Re:Oh well by Squiffy · · Score: 4, Funny

      Haha, yes, I fell for it. Would you believe the "I haven't had my coffee yet" defense?

    3. Re:Oh well by interkin3tic · · Score: 5, Funny

      you believe this?

      Why not, in order to be an april fools joke, humor would have to be involved, therefore I can only conclude that this is seriousness.

    4. Re:Oh well by noidentity · · Score: 2, Funny

      Wait, so does this mean I can download torrents from TPB on my Time/Warner cable modem, FINALLY?!? This is great! People doubted the cable companies, but they're finally showing some hope, what with this and the non-secret bandwidth limits.

    5. Re:Oh well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Your mom's a big fan of quantity over quality as well.

    6. Re:Oh well by Cap'nPedro · · Score: 5, Funny

      I miss the ponies!

    7. Re:Oh well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      You know, I really thought it would go the other way. The Pirate Bay is really in a much more favorable position vis-a-vis liquidity and interesting content than Warner Brothers. Be interesting to see how the deal plays out and what members of the Pirate Bay end up on Warner's board of directors.

      You said "vis-a-vis." That should get you an automatic -1 Pretentious Bastard.

    8. Re:Oh well by dedazo · · Score: 2, Funny

      Remember "OMG PONIES!!"?

      I do... I still do.

      --
      Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo
    9. Re:Oh well by notsaenej · · Score: 5, Funny

      Ah, nostalgia isn't what is used to be huh?

    10. Re:Oh well by Joce640k · · Score: 5, Funny

      Huh? Are you sayign it's a joke? I just went to http://thepiratebay.org/ and it's confirmed there...I don't think an april fooler could hack into their site and change it.

      --
      No sig today...
    11. Re:Oh well by agnosticanarch · · Score: 2, Funny

      Congratulations! You have earned the Pretentious Bastard Award!

      --
      I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do.
    12. Re:Oh well by BCW2 · · Score: 4, Funny

      *Snerk, giggle, guffaw!*

      --
      Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
  2. oh my lord by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I can't hardly believe this is real! I'm writing home to mammy about this! She'll break the rocker!

  3. That would turn into... by physman_wiu · · Score: 2, Funny

    Netflix on demand...only slower.

    This is one of the better April Fools jokes I've seen.

    --
    Physics is imagination in a straight jacket. ~John Moffat
  4. It's about time by notarockstar1979 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Honestly this is the whole reason for the lawsuits. It was to devalue TPB so that WB or one of the other big media groups could purchase them on the cheap. I can't believe no one saw this coming.

    1. Re:It's about time by sorak · · Score: 2, Funny

      Honestly this is the whole reason for the lawsuits. It was to devalue TPB so that WB or one of the other big media groups could purchase them on the cheap. I can't believe no one saw this coming.

      Well, they are a dot com that is borderline legality in its own country, and they don't make any money. I'm surprised they didn't get bought out in 2000.

  5. Next on the block? Sony by pha7boy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sony was, reportedly, also interested in a deal with Pirate Bay to distribute it's share of Sony-Ericsson over the net. Fortunately, the deal fell through... for now...

    --
    -- All this knowledge is giving me a raging brainer.
  6. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  7. bedeebedeebedeeTHAT'S ALL FOLKS! by Ralph+Spoilsport · · Score: 2, Funny
    I for one welcome our 50 year old animated overlords.

    Keew da wabbit keew da wabbit...

    RS

    --
    Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
  8. Re:In an unrelated news, by perryizgr8 · · Score: 5, Funny

    In an unrelated news, Stallman has just announced that he's joining Microsoft.

    in related news, windows 7 goes open source.

    --
    Wealth is the gift that keeps on giving.
  9. Re:Seriously, guys... by Gizzmonic · · Score: 2, Funny

    It is?

    So I can go to work wearing a pair of "April Fool's"?

    --
    (-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
  10. Re:In an unrelated news, by shadowbearer · · Score: 4, Funny

      More breaking news: Darl McBride announced that he's going to throw his weight behind linux; "If you can't beat'em, join'em." he declared in a surprise announcement from amidst the still smoking ruins of SCO's headquarters.

      He was hospitalized shortly afterward in critical condition due to what appears to be injuries inflicted by an office chair.

    SB

     

    --
    It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
  11. Re:Seriously, guys... by cayenne8 · · Score: 5, Funny
    "I believe it stems from British English. They call pants trousers, and underwear pants. I also believe that pants is used as a somewhat general derogatory there."

    Ah..that explains it.

    Even if I knew British English....I'd not get it, since I go 'commando'.

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  12. Re:Seriously, guys... by KylePflug · · Score: 4, Funny

    I believe pants to be an evil dichotomy.

    I don't think that word means what you think it means.

  13. Re:Seriously, guys... by blueturffan · · Score: 2, Funny

    I was going to mod this post up, but I couldn't decide if it was Funny, Insightful, Informative or Interesting...

  14. Not Reading Slashdot by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 1, Funny

    There are reasons I don't read Slashdot on 4/1. This is only one of them.

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
  15. Re:Seriously, guys... by Jaborandy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Then I guess something being "pants" means it's nonexistent... at least to you.

  16. Warner's Plan by Chlorine+Trifluoride · · Score: 2, Funny

    1. Find a large BT tracker.
    2. Acquire the site on April 1, when no one will believe you.
    3. Keep full logs.
    4. Get all the IPs of pirates.
    5. Begin sueing left and right.
    6. ...
    7. Profit!

    TL;DR: It's a trap!