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Swedish court case over online file sharing to be streamed online

Feb 11, 2009, 14:52 GMT

Stockholm - The upcoming trial against the operators of a popular website that allegedly acts as a hub for illegal file sharing would make Swedish media history, public broadcaster SVT said Wednesday. The broadcaster said it would stream audio from the courtroom to the internet during the trial that is scheduled to open Monday. Television broadcasts from a trial are not allowed under Swedish law. 'This will be the first time we stream a trial,' Erik Fichtelius, head of the SVT24 channel was quoted as saying on the Swedish journalist federation's website. Four men face charges as accessories in violating copyright law, helping others 'breach copyright laws' and of making illegal gains by selling advertisements on the Pirate Bay website. The website has long angered music and movie companies. Of the 33 alleged cases of copyright infringement, 20 were related to music and nine to films, including Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The Pirate Bay website was temporarily shut down in June 2006. Its backers said it was a not-for-profit group and did not store copyrighted material but only offered a search engine for users who exchange music, films and computer games. The widespread use of the internet and high-speed connections has fuelled downloading in Sweden, and supporters of the practice of file sharing even ran for parliament 2006.

Europe News

Swedish court case over online file sharing to be streamed online

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