Submission + - Prison for Pirate Bay 1
a_n_d_e_r_s writes: The four persons behind the Pirate Bay accused of helping others to commit copyright infringement has today received their sentence of 1 year in prison and about 30 MSEK in damages and loss of the computer equpment that was used to host the Pirate bay. It will most likely be appealed to a higher court.
This is reported all over the net BBC and Routers
Skimming through the verdict(warning large PDF in SWEDISH) it looks like they where all found guilty as having a general knowledge that the Pirate Bay can be used for copyright infringement and thus where found guilty of the crime. Even though the accused was not even aware of the torrents that was part of the court hearing they where sentenced. This is the real interesting issue — by not even giving an aperance to fight against that their site being used for copyright infringements probably was the important factor that made the court found them guilty.
The sentencing is not unexpected (max verdict is 2 years in prison) and the damages is about 1/3 of what the companies that has requested damages had requested. Notice that no punitive damages is applicable.