Slashdot Mirror
Music Industry Wants a Cut of Pirate Bay Sale
suraj.sun writes "The music industry will attempt to seize money paid to acquire the Pirate Bay. A couple of weeks back the Global Gaming Factory, a Swedish software company, announced that it would acquire the Pirate Bay for $7.8 million. Since then the company has been touting a new business model and even hiring executives, such as Wayne Rosso, the former Grokster president, to legally obtain content from film and music industries. What remains to be seen is how that sale might be affected by attempts by the music industry to collect the $3.6 million damages that a Swedish court awarded it in April. Alex Jacob, a spokesman for the IFPI, said that the group has always intended to collect the damages award, but now, should the sale go through, music execs know that the original Pirate Bay operators have access to the money." According to CNet, the four original Pirates claim they no longer own the company and that no money from the sale will go to them.
"should the sale go through, music execs know that the original Pirate Bay operators have access to the money."
/. article:
But from http://www.thelocal.se/20364/20090630/ in the linked
"...the money would not reach their pockets.
Rather, he said, the money would be used to create a fund to develop other internet projects."
Also surely they cannot intervene to collect the awarded money when there is still an appeal pending.
Portia won not by appealing to mercy but because she understood the fine print better than Shylock: Shylock wanted his pound of flesh, but Portia pointed out that he was entitled to exactly a pound, and if he took any more or less he'd be guilty of murder.
The RIAA may not understand mercy, but they should definitely understand weaseling out of a deal be finding a loophole. After all, these guys do that sort of thing to musicians as a matter of course.
I am officially gone from
Portia won not by appealing to mercy but because she understood the fine print better than Shylock: Shylock wanted his pound of flesh, but Portia pointed out that he was entitled to exactly a pound, and if he took any more or less he'd be guilty of murder.
Not quite - she actually argued that he could take the pound of flesh but that he must not spill any blood since he was not entitled to that and that his lands and fortune would be forfeit under Venetian law should he take more than he was entitled to.
And yet the current RIAA president is a prominent Republican political figure and lobbyist. He was the chief of staff for Bill Frist. Not to mention the RIAA gave out just as much money to Republican candidates as it did Democrats. Not that this excuses the Dems, and it doesn't, but it's only fair to point out that the Repubs are just as much in the pockets of the copyright lobby as the Dems are.
Seriously is anyone besides me sick and tired of the music industry begging and asking for money from everyone. I swear they would want a cut of a homeless guy's shopping cart full of cans if they found out he downloaded a song before he was homeless.
It's not about the cans, it about the fear.