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Italy May Hold Its Own Pirate Bay Trial

Posted by timothy on from the keeping-up-with-the-johannsens dept.

hyanakin writes with an excerpt from TorrentFreak: "Following the Swedish verdict, Italy is now considering starting its own trial against the people involved with The Pirate Bay. This would be the first criminal prosecution against the Pirate Bay 'founders' outside their home country." Funny thing: almost 20 years ago, CD stores in Germany all seemed to be full of bootleg concert CDs pressed in Italy.

10 of 120 comments (clear)

  1. Jurisdiction? by rts008 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    FTFA:

    According to Sunde's lawyers, one of the issues still under discussion is whether the evidence collected by the Swedish authorities is legal or not. Thus far, the only binding jurisdiction with regard to The Pirate Bay is that the Italian blocking order was absolutely unlawful under criminal law.

    Nevertheless, the entertainment industry is one step ahead and already thinking about how they will divide the booty. Simona Lavagnini, one of the lawyers representing the Italian music industry said that it is not very realistic to expect the defendants to be extradited to Italy, but she believes that fines and a seizure of assets belong to the possibilities.

    Are the Italians going to invade other countries to seize these assets? Does TPB even have any assets in Italyto be seized?

    This sounds like another 'me too' bullshit stunt to me.

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    1. Re:Jurisdiction? by Cromac · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you were the Italian government wouldn't you rather go after 4 guys running a website than the mafia?

    2. Re:Jurisdiction? by Shin-LaC · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What the hell?

      1) The government is constantly going after the mafia. There was a high-profile arrest just four days ago, the head of the Bidognetti clan of the camorra (the mafia of Naples).

      2) In Italy, the government runs the police, but it has no control over the judiciary. Zero. Whether there is a Pirate Bay trial in Italy is completely outside the government's control.

      3) The judiciary hasn't said that they want to do such a trial, either. All TFA (and its source) say is that the president of the Italian Music Industry Federation "expects" that the prosecution will seek a trial several months from now. There are no facts, just speculations from the Italian equivalent of the RIAA.

      Are you enjoying being a prejudiced jerk?

  2. How... by Darkness404 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How can they be tried in Italy? That doesn't make any sense unless the founders A) Lived in Italy B) Had Itallian bank accounts or other finances C) Did (physical) business in Italy with a physical presence.

    Really, this doesn't make any sense.

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    Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
    1. Re:How... by TheSpoom · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Thank you, this is exactly what I was thinking.

      My guess is that they believe that because it happens "over the internet" (duh-duh-DUH!) it's an international issue and that they may be able to get them extradited. Which, y'know, is stupid, but then, that's government for you.

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    2. Re:How... by Darkness404 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      But that doesn't make any sense either, because then you could get sued for a situation like this:

      A) Create a website that violates some law in one country that is part of the EU, such as distributing Nazi texts which (as far as I know) is illegal in Germany, but legal in some EU nations such as the UK (where they actually have some shell of freedom of speech)

      B) The website is hosted in a legal country such as the UK and all maintainers of it live, work, and have all financial ties in the UK

      C) Germany brings charges against you

      That just doesn't make any sense (not that most governments do), and seems contrary to having independent nation's laws rather then general EU laws.

      --
      Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
  3. Anyone else see a plot for a new action film.... by syousef · · Score: 5, Funny

    He was a pirate...his father was a Swedish pirate, his mother an Italian beauty...now he faces his greatest challenge.

    *queue music*

    *fade in* RIAA *fade out*

    *fade in* MPAA *fade out*

    *queue fast drum music*

    *flash quickly in time ot music to lots of scenes of kids downloading crap from their bedrooms and basements*

    Okay maybe not an action film...

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    These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
  4. Those Bootlegs Were Legal by Telephone+Sanitizer · · Score: 5, Interesting

    > Funny thing: almost 20 years ago, CD stores in Germany all
    > seemed to be full of bootleg concert CDs pressed in Italy.

    In fact, it was perfectly legal to record a live concert and sell the recording from Italy if the bootlegger opened a bank account and deposited a royalty for the artist.

    There was even an official stamp issued to those bootleggers who registered with the Italian Authors Society.

  5. Re:Will it be held in Naples? by genner · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Neapolitans have a bit of a reputation for taking things that aren't theirs

    Is that how they got 3 diffrent flavours in their ice cream?

  6. LOL @ .it domains by wulfmans · · Score: 4, Funny

    I admin an IRC server and the country that is always using the !List command the most is Italy (95% of the time). I am sure you all know that !list is how you trigger a fserv on IRC. What are they looking for you ask? WAREZ !!! It's gotta be a joke they would consider having a trial.