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Prince, Village People to Sue The Pirate Bay
Posted by
Soulskill
on Sunday February 17, @05:38PM
from the artist-formerly-known-as-arrrr dept.
from the artist-formerly-known-as-arrrr dept.
castrox writes to tell us that The Pirate Bay's legal concerns are continuing to grow. Prince and the Village People are planning to sue the popular torrent site with the help of the Web Sheriff law firm. John Giacobbi of Web Sheriff has also asked Swedish band ABBA to join the cause. The suit is seeking "millions of dollars" in damages, although it's still uncertain to whom the charges will be directed. The likely targets are the four Pirate Bay founders who were indicted a few weeks ago on charges of breaking copyright law. Prince has taken investigative action against The Pirate Bay in the past.
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yeah (Score:5, Funny)
Correction: They're seeking "millions of dollars" in fabulous damages.
Re:yeah (Score:5, Funny)
Young man! (Score:5, Funny)
I said, I was.. downloading torrent files too,
But it's stealing, and there is licensing due,
So you've got.. to.. know.. this.. one thing:
DUN DUN DUN DUNNUN
It's fun to sue with the D.M.C.A.,
It's fun to sue with the D.M.C.A.,
They have everything there for lawyers to enjoy,
Ain't no safe harbor for Pirate Bay, boys!
P.S. Sorry, I had to..
Civil vs. Criminal (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Civil vs. Criminal (Score:5, Informative)
The bigger difference though, is that Swedish law has no concept of using fines as a form of punishment in it self, just as compensation for losses or emotional/physical suffering.
Since a business entity can't claim to be "hurt" TPB can only be made to reimburse the losses suffered through their actions, and these losses has to be substantiated.
Re:Civil vs. Criminal (Score:5, Insightful)
Even though they are at a very early (and sometimes chaotic) stage I like to compare them to the green movement in Europe. In the early 80's many green parties formed in various countries because none of the existing parties served the aims of environmentalists. Nowadays they are well represented (check seats in the EU parliament) and their biggest enemies are the other parties picking up their cause. I'd love to see a similar development for all the pirate parties (especially regarding privacy).
In Soviet Russia..... (Score:5, Funny)
Downloaders are scared... (Score:5, Funny)
Web Sheriff already tryed to sue... (Score:5, Informative)
White Stripes / WEB SHERIFF: email [thepiratebay.org] our response [thepiratebay.org] 2nd mail and response [thepiratebay.org] our fax (invoice) [thepiratebay.org] 3rd mail [thepiratebay.org] attached document [thepiratebay.org] We tell Faxxsheriff about our new site [thepiratebay.org] 4th mail [thepiratebay.org] our response [thepiratebay.org].
Web hotels? (Score:5, Interesting)
I totally agree. Weve said for years that web hotels who are making millions, even billions, by renting out web space to file-sharing websites should take more responsibility and control these websites, Giacobbi said.
What the? This firm is called web sherrif, you would think they would have a slightly better grasp of the terms of the trade. It makes me almost instantly classify this suit as totally without merit and just a case of some stupid musicians being conned by a lawyer who smells a fat check (and not coming from the direction the musicians think).
Claims of millions of whatever currency are already laughable enough, does this guy really think that thepiratebay its isp or in fact anyone even remotely connected to P2P makes billions? Does he even understand how much money that is wether you measure it in dollars, euro's or kronen?
It's a civil case. (Score:5, Insightful)
Web sherrif? Hahaha :D (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm sure thepiratebay is getting scared [thepiratebay.org] now - see the links about halfway on that page to read the fine letters mailed between "the white stripes/Web sherrif" and thepiratebay admins.
The interesting thing.. (Score:5, Insightful)
This really brings out the real trouble with the system. Somehow music is a perpetual machine in terms of money making. Now, I get that if someone uses your songs in order to MAKE MONEY, then they should give some back to you (since you're alive), since your work is obviously making money.
But going after file sharers just seems rather absurd to me especially since the artists considered haven't produced anything new in quite a while and so just wants free lunch. It DOES seem very greedy to me.
I mean.. Get to work like everybody else?
Sue for what? (Score:5, Insightful)
They can at most sue them for some sort of grey area "contributory copyright infringement"...
Prince sue? (Score:5, Interesting)
Prince? (Score:5, Funny)
Macho, macho man... (Score:5, Funny)
Torrent sites should be able to defend themselves (Score:5, Insightful)
If all someone is doing is using information from a torrent site to find another party, and is not actively connecting the two copyright infringers Napster-style, then surely they can defend the accusations.
Re:Torrent sites should be able to defend themselv (Score:5, Insightful)
Established acts (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't see this as bands vs. the pirate bay, but as old distribution model vs. new distribution model. The new music business model is emerging and trying to mold itself to what consumers, who use the internet, want. The old business model swats down the new business model where ever it emerges and will attempt to change laws and the very nature of the internet to do it.
The by-product of the music industries attempts to do this have two consequences if allowed to continue. 1) Banal crappy sounding music with very little originality and fewer bands (and they are made to an accountants recipe of what sells) and more seriously 2) The ability for business to innovate better business models using the internet will be hampered by the legal framework left over from the music industries legal maneuvering.
How do acts like Prince and The Village People know that their music isn't reaching a new audience *because* of places like the pirate bay? As a whole I think because the music industry is not prepared/able to adapt (it lacks the imagination) eventually it will be replaced, hopefully soon, and that their main fear is that the artists themselves will be able to have a direct relationship with the people who want to listen to their music and yield an income from that direct relationship.
Sensationalist Headline? (Score:5, Funny)
I thought for a minute there that the Prince of Sweden had teamed up with a random Swedish village to sue The Pirate Bay.
My train of thought went from anger at the demeaning and archaic reference to the Swedish populous as "village people", to puzzlement about what possible copyrights the prince and villagers could hold in common, to loss of what little respect I have left for those groups.
Re:Remember "A New Hope" (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:what do they all have in common? (Score:5, Informative)
Anyway, it should be noted that this guy has *tried* to involve ABBA in this. I don't see anything indicating that they have even responded yet, let alone confirmed their agreement with him. I suspect that he wins either way (even if they don't get involved, having their name connected still gets him more attention).
Potential basis of ABBA legal action against the Pirate Bay: "I've been cheated by you since I don't know when" (thrown out due to vagueness surrounding the dates of the alleged infringments).
Re:Dear Prince (Score:5, Funny)
I think you're thinking of ABBA here.
Re:Added to my list of artists to avoid (Score:5, Insightful)
It's also worth noting that Prince gave away copies [guardian.co.uk] of his last album in a paper, which was extremely unpopular with the music industry - so it's not as if he doesn't want his work distributed.