Year in Review: Bit Torrent & Other File Sharing Lawsuits

BitTorrent Lawsuits

OiNK -UK
Alan Ellis, administrator of the private UK Bit Torrent Network OiNK was charged with Conspiracy to defraud.[1] OiNK was initially raided and closed down in October 2007 in a coordinated raid between UK and Dutch police.[2] Two users of the network were also charged with copyright infringement for uploading a single CD each to the network.[3] Five OiNK users had been previously been arrested but were released without charge.[4]

Elite Torrents - USA
Daniel Dove became the first person to be found guilty of copyright infringement in a court in Virginia in the United States for use of the BitTorrent network.[5] Dove was an administrator of the sites uploaders and was sentenced to 18months imprisonment, a $20,000 fine and 3 years of supervised release for his part in the network.[6] Elite Torrents had more than 125,000 members and distributed 700 movies 1.1 million times.[7]

Other administrators of the site: Scott McCausland, Grant Stanley, Sam Kuonen and Scott Hargraves all pleaded guilty to copyright infringement charges.[8]

Torrent Spy - USA
TorrentSpy were held liable for copyright infringement and ordered to pay damages of $110million in June 2008 and then filed for bankruptcy.[9] US District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper awarded the MPAA maximum damages of $30,000 per movie for 3,699 infringement charges.[10] TorrentSpy apparently destroyed some of the evidence relevant to the case and failed to keep accurate records of users.[11] TorrentSpy initially sought to appeal the decision.[12]

Torrent spy continues to litigate against the MPAA for their investigation techniques which included hacking into the emails of TorrentSpy and sending copies of material to the MPAA.[13]

isoHunt - Canada
In May 2008 isoHunt, Torrentbox.com and Podtropolis.com received cease and desist letters for operating a BitTorrent tracker site.[14] Despite offering to cooperate fully with take down notices CRIA continued to allege that the sites were in breach of copyright law.[15] In response isoHunt made a Petition to the Court in order that their legal status be determined.[16] Since 2003 it was estimated that the operators of the tracking site had removed over 50,000 links to illegal material on request of the copyright holders.[17]

Quebec Torrent – Canada
The Quebec Superior Court ordered the permanent shut down of site Quebec Torrent in July 2008. The Association quѐbѐcoise de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidѐo (ADISQ) sought the injunction and $200,000 in damages from the administrator Sѐbastien Brulottte. The site was used by an estimated 10,000 people.[18]

ColomboBT.org – Italy
In mid 2008 the Guardia di Finanza in cooperation with the (IFPI equivalent) FPM in Italy forced the BitTorrent tracker site Colombo.org to shut down.[19] ColomboBT.org had 400,000 registered users with 800,000 unique visitors per month, an estimated 390,000 music files and 500,000 movie files.[20]

Torrent.to – Netherlands
BREIN forced the shut down of Torrent.to in 2008.[21] The District Court of Den Bosch (the Netherlands) ordered the closure of the site and the disclosure of the personal information of the sites operators by internet provider Euroaccess.[22]

Everlasting – Netherlands
BREIN forced the shut down of the BitTorrent site Everlasting in 2008.[23] Following the decision of a Dutch Court BREIN won an injunction against the site operated by LeaseWeb who had also hosted Demonoid prior to its relocation to Canada.[24] LeaseWeb appealed the decision but in July 2008 the Amerstdam Court of Appeals ruled in BREINs favour.[25]

Torrent.is – Iceland
In March 2008 the BitTorrent tracker Torrent.is, the most popular private tracker site in Iceland faced legal action for copyright infringement.[26] When the preliminary injunction was received in November 2007 and the site was shutdown there was a 50% drop in internet traffic in Iceland.[27] The site had around 26,500 active users.[28]

Httpshare – Israel
In March 2008 an Israeli court ordered an ISP to block the BitTorrent search site HttpShare but it remained available to the rest of the world. [29] Immediately after the block went in to place the number of visitors to the site dramatically increased largely because of the publicity surrounding the decision.[30] The site reported 70,000 visitors per day and needed to upgrade their network to cope with the additional traffic.[31]

The Pirate Bay - Denmark
Two thousand and eight was another litigious year for the Pirate Bay. An Italian judge from the Court of Bergamo ordered Italian ISPs to block users from that country from the site. In October the case went on appeal and the decision was overturned.[32] The Italian ban and the publicity surrounding it resulted in an increase in the number visitors to the site.[33] In response to the initial court decision The Pirate Bay changed the IP address for the website and suggested that users refer to labaia.org to access the site or switch to OpenDNS to bypass the filters imposed by the ISPs.[34]

In February 2008 the IFPI took action against The Pirate Bay in Denmark seeking court assistance to block access by the ISP Tele2.[35] The court ordered the blocking of the site but this had little effect with it rising from 29th most popular site in Denmark to the 24th most popular.[36] The case has gone on appeal. [37] The block led to an increase in traffic to The Pirate Bay.[38] The ISP was reported to be appealing the decision.[39]

In January 2008 operators of The Pirate Bay were charged with 33 counts of copyright infringement (20 music albums, 9 movies and 4 computer games) by Swedish police.[40] Damages of 1.2 million kronor ($US185,000) are sought against three of the sites administrators who claim that the site will remain operational even if they are found liable.[41] Controversially, it was later revealed that a police member involved in the initial investigation was at the time also an employee of Warner Brothers.[42] The MPAA are seeking $15.4 million in damages with the IFPI seeking $2.5 million in damages.[43] Arists such as Prince and the Village People were reportedly involved in the lawsuit.[44] The case is partly based on the 2006 server raids and is reported to consist of 4,000 documents.[45]

One musician that was used by the IFPI in filing charges against The Pirate Bay later expressed concern at being used for these purposes indicating that he was pro file sharing and did not wish to be part of the prosecution against The Pirate Bay.[46]

Statistics indicate that the user base of The Pirate Bay have risen from 10-15 million simultaneous users to 20 million.[47] In June 2008 The Pirate Bay entered the top 100 of the world most visited sites, being ranked at 97 and only second to Mininova (ranked at 52) as the most preferred file sharing website.[48] Mininova passed its 4 billionth download in February 2008.[49]


Other File Sharing Lawsuits
In addition to the lawsuits against BitTorrent, Limewire and individuals that have engaged in file sharing, in 2008 there were three other cases, two in Germany and one in France concerning file sharing software. Legal action was also taken in the Netherlands against eDoneky servers and in Mexico in relation to a DirectConnect hub.

In Germany a court in Hamburg found that the operators of Rapidshare were not doing enough to prevent illegal infringement on their network despite having six fulltime employees checking for and removing illegal content and despite implementing a hash based filter.[50]

In a separate action however the operator of an eDoneky server was held to have complied with copyright infringement notification and the use of key word filtering was deemed sufficient to excuse the operator for facilitating copyright infringement.[51]

In the later part of 2008 a French court ruled that French copyright law – Article L. 335-2-1 which seeks to prevent the facilitation of copyright infringement could be applied to entities outside of the jurisdiction.[52] A case against Limewire, Morpheus, Vuze and Sourceforge which was commenced in 2007 was allowed to proceed but is yet to go to trial.[53]

BREIN forced the shut down of Razorback 3.0, 3.1, 3.2 and 3.5 servers in 2008.[54] Razorback 3.1 was the largest of these enabling 350,000 users to access the eDonkey network.[55]

In July 2008 Mexican authorities closed down the DirectConnect Hub Sunnydale Hub which had 1.5 TB of copyrighted material and required users to contribute a minimum of 2GB of content to be connected.[56]

[1] ZeroPaid, OiNK Admin Charged with 'Conspiracy to Defraud' Uploaders with Copyright Infringement (12 September 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9745/OiNK+Admin+Charged+With+%27Conspiracy+to+Defraud%2C%27+Uploaders+With+Copyright+Infringement> at 21 September 2008; TechDirt, UK Overreaction To OiNK Continues (11 September 2008) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080911/0218552233.shtml> at 14 September 2008; TechDirt, UK Authorities Charging OiNK Users With 'Conspiracy To Defraud The Music Industry' (2 June 2008) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080601/1756051285.shtml> at 4 June 2008
[2] ZeroPaid, OiNK Admin Charged with 'Conspiracy to Defraud' Uploaders with Copyright Infringement (12 September 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9745/OiNK+Admin+Charged+With+%27Conspiracy+to+Defraud%2C%27+Uploaders+With+Copyright+Infringement> at 21 September 2008
[3] ZeroPaid, OiNK Admin Charged with 'Conspiracy to Defraud' Uploaders with Copyright Infringement (12 September 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9745/OiNK+Admin+Charged+With+%27Conspiracy+to+Defraud%2C%27+Uploaders+With+Copyright+Infringement> at 21 September 2008; Digital Music News, Uploading Kills: OiNK Operators, Players Face Charges (11 September 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/091108oink> at 14 September 2008
[4] ZeroPaid, 5 More Former OiNK Users Arrested (6 June 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9533/5+More+Former+OiNK+Users+Arrested> at 6 June 2008; The Register, UK cops arrest six alleged BitTorrent music uploaders (2 June 2008) <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/02/onk_further_arrests/> at 4 June 2008
[5] ZeroPaid, Elite Torrents Admin Sentenced, Gets 18 months, $20,000 Fine (11 September 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9744/EliteTorrents+Admin+Sentenced%2C+Gets+18+Months%2C+%2420%2C000+Fine> at 12 September 2008; The New York Times, Jury Convicts Web Site Operator in P2P Case (27 June 2008) <http://www.nytimes.com/idg/IDG_852573C40069388085257475006826C0.html> at 4 July 2008
[6] ZeroPaid, Elite Torrents Admin Sentenced, Gets 18 months, $20,000 Fine (11 September 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9744/EliteTorrents+Admin+Sentenced%2C+Gets+18+Months%2C+%2420%2C000+Fine> at 12 September 2008; Digital Music News, Another Heavy Hammer: EliteTorrents Admin Heads to Jail (11 September 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/091008elite> at 12 September 2008
[7] The New York Times, Jury Convicts Web Site Operator in P2P Case (27 June 2008) <http://www.nytimes.com/idg/IDG_852573C40069388085257475006826C0.html> at 4 July 2008; ZeroPaid, Former Elite Torrents Admin Faces 10 Years in Prison (29 June 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9597/Former+EliteTorrents+Admin+Faces+10yrs+in+Prison> at 30 June 2008
[8] ZeroPaid, Elite Torrents Admin Sentenced, Gets 18 months, $20,000 Fine (11 September 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9744/EliteTorrents+Admin+Sentenced%2C+Gets+18+Months%2C+%2420%2C000+Fine> at 12 September 2008
[9] Digital Music News, We're Broke! Torrentspy Offers Latest Snub to MPAA... (12 May 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/051108torrent> at 21 May 2008; Digital Music News, TorrentSpy Faces Hefty, $110 Million Infringement Penalty (7 May 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/050708torrentspy> at 10 May 2008; The Register, Hollywood awarded $110m against TorrentSpy (7 May 2008) <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/07/mpaa_awarded_110m_from_torrentspy/> at 10 May 2008
[10] The Register, Hollywood awarded $110m against TorrentSpy (7 May 2008) <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/07/mpaa_awarded_110m_from_torrentspy/> at 10 May 2008
[11] TechDirt, TorrentSpy Gives Up; Shuts Down (27 March 2008) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080327/105542666.shtml> at 31 March 2008
[12] The Register, Hollywood awarded $110m against TorrentSpy (7 May 2008) <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/07/mpaa_awarded_110m_from_torrentspy/> at 10 May 2008; Yahoo UK Ireland, TorrentSpy to appeal 110-mln-dollar ruling in film piracy suit (8 May 2008) <http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080508/ttc-us-it-internet-copyright-film-trial-e0bba4a.html> at 10 May 2008; TechDirt, Court Orders TorrentSpy To Pay $110 Million To MPAA (7 May 2008) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080507/1657261059.shtml> at 10 May 2008; TechDirt, TorrentSpy, Though Out Of Business, To Appeal Massive Fine (8 May 2008) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080508/1046351063.shtml> at 10 May 2008; ArsTechnica, TorrentSpy ordered to pay $110 million in damages to MPAA (7 May 2008) <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080507-torrentspy-ordered-to-pay-110-million-in-damages-to-mpaa.html> at 8 May 2008
[13] TechDirt, TorrentSpy Appeals Lawsuit Over MPAA Getting Access To Its Emails (25 July 2008) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080724/1704181785.shtml> at 28 July 2008
[14] ZeroPaid, isoHunt Sues Canadian Record Industry to Prove BitTorrent Legal (10 September 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9743/isoHunt+Sues+Canadian+Record+Industry+to+Prove+BitTorrent+Legal> at 12 September 2008
[15] ZeroPaid, isoHunt Sues Canadian Record Industry to Prove BitTorrent Legal (10 September 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9743/isoHunt+Sues+Canadian+Record+Industry+to+Prove+BitTorrent+Legal> at 12 September 2008
[16] ZeroPaid, isoHunt Sues Canadian Record Industry to Prove BitTorrent Legal (10 September 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9743/isoHunt+Sues+Canadian+Record+Industry+to+Prove+BitTorrent+Legal> at 12 September 2008
[17] Canada.com, B.C. Search engine head sues industry group over downloading (10 September 2008) <http://www.canada.com/topics/technology/story.html?id=a6b3cd6c-f902-4429-bb4b-06c224cc1e15> at 12 September 2008
[18] cbc.ca, Quebec court orders popular downloading website to shut down (11 July 2008) <http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/07/11/qc-quebectorrent0711.html> at 11 July 2008
[19] ZeroPaid, Italian Govt Orders ISPs to Block the Pirate Bay (12 August 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9694/Italian+Govt+Orders+ISPs+to+Block+The+Pirate+Bay> at 20 August 2008
[20] Billboard, Italy's Largest BitTorrent Site Shuttered (29 July 2008) <http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i0e5e7151b1d77beb2192faa5ae24ecf8> at 6 August 2008
[21] Slyck, BREIN Continues Dutch Anti-Piracy Mop up (13 July 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1712_BREIN_Continues_Dutch_AntiPiracy_Mop_up> at 23 July 2008
[22] Slyck, BREIN Continues Dutch Anti-Piracy Mop up (13 July 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1712_BREIN_Continues_Dutch_AntiPiracy_Mop_up> at 23 July 2008
[23] Slyck, BREIN Continues Dutch Anti-Piracy Mop up (13 July 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1712_BREIN_Continues_Dutch_AntiPiracy_Mop_up> at 23 July 2008
[24] ZeroPaid, Dutch Court Rules BitTorrent Tracker Site Hosting Illegal (8 July 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9614/Dutch+Court+Rules+BitTorrent+Tracker+Site+Hosting+Illegal> at 9 July 2008
[25] ZeroPaid, Dutch Court Rules BitTorrent Tracker Site Hosting Illegal (8 July 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9614/Dutch+Court+Rules+BitTorrent+Tracker+Site+Hosting+Illegal> at 9 July 2008
[26] TorrentFreak, Iceland's Largest Bit Torrent Trackers Faces Permanent Shutdown (16 March 2008) <http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-tracker-faces-permanent-shutdown-080316/> at 27 March 2008
[27] TorrentFreak, Iceland's Largest Bit Torrent Trackers Faces Permanent Shutdown (16 March 2008) <http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-tracker-faces-permanent-shutdown-080316/> at 27 March 2008
[28] TorrentFreak, Iceland's Largest Bit Torrent Trackers Faces Permanent Shutdown (16 March 2008) <http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-tracker-faces-permanent-shutdown-080316/> at 27 March 2008
[29] TechDirt, As Expected, IFPI 'Advertising' Helps Boost BitTorrent Search Site (12 March 2008) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080312/191122521.shtml> at 13 March 2008
[30] TechDirt, As Expected, IFPI 'Advertising' Helps Boost BitTorrent Search Site (12 March 2008) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080312/191122521.shtml> at 13 March 2008
[31] Digital Music News, Israeli BitTorrent Tracker Blocked; More Drama Ahead (10 March 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/030908israel> at 11 March 2008; TechDirt, IFPI Gets Israeli Court To Block (And Advertise) File Sharing Site (6 March 2008) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080306/075612462.shtml> at 7 March 2008
[32] ZeroPaid, Italian Court Rules ISP Block of The Pirate Bay Illegal (2 October 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9782/Italian+Court+Rules+ISP+Block+of+The+Pirate+Bay+Illegal> at 5 October 2008; TechDirt, Court Says Italy Can't Block The Pirate Bay (25 September 2008) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080925/1538242379.shtml> at 26 September 2008
[33] TechDirt, Why Did Italian ISPs Redirect Pirate Bay Traffic To IFPI Site? (18 August 2008) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080815/1428431996.shtml> at 20 August 2008; TechDirt, Italy Tries, Fails To Ban The Pirate Bay (11 August 2008) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080811/0048071938.shtml> at 20 August 2008
[34] Digital Music News, The Pirate Bay... Blocked by Italian ISPs... (12 August 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/081108pirate> at 20 August 2008; ZeroPaid, Italian Govt Orders ISPs to Block the Pirate Bay (12 August 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9694/Italian+Govt+Orders+ISPs+to+Block+The+Pirate+Bay> at 20 August 2008; The Register, Pirate Bay Evades Italian Blockade (11 August 2008) <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/11/pirate_bay_italy/> at 20 August 2008; Slyck, ISPs block The Pirate Bay in Italy (9 August 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1739_ISPs_block_The_Pirate_Bay_in_Italy> at 12 August 2008
[35] Digital Music News, Pirate Bay Gets Shorted In Denmark, ISP Blocks Access (6 February 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/020508pirate> at 19 February 2008; Slyck, The Pirate Bay Cache Blocked in Denmark (4 February 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1655_The_Pirate_Bay_Cache_Blocked_in_Denmark> at 7 February 2008
[36] The Register, Pirate Bay to sue music industry (16 April 2008) <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/16/piratebay_sues_music_industry/> at 26 April 2008
[37] The Register, Pirate Bay to sue music industry (16 April 2008) <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/16/piratebay_sues_music_industry/> at 26 April 2008; Digital Music News, Pirate Bay Pulls an IFPI... Legal Battlefield Intensifies (17 April 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/041608pirate> at 26 April 2008; ZeroPaid, Danish ISP May Fight Court Order to Block the Pirate Bay (7 February 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9249/Danish+ISP+May+Fight+Court+Order+to+Block+The+Pirate+Bay> at 8 February 2008; TorrentFreak, The Pirate Bay Fights Danish ISP Block (5 February 2008) <http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-fights-danish-isp-block-080205/> at 8 February 2008; TechDirt, Danish ISP Doesn't Understand Why It's Supposed To Block Pirate Bay (6 February 2008) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080206/165610190.shtml> at 7 February 2008
[38] TechDirt, Danish Block Of The Pirate Bay Leads To Even More Traffic (11 February 2008) at 13 February 2008
[39] ZeroPaid, Danish ISP Decides to Fight Order to Block The Pirate Bay (15 February 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9270/Danish+ISP+Decides+to+Fight+Order+to+Block+The+Pirate+Bay>m at 17 February 2008;
[40] ZeroPaid, Case Against The Pirate Bay Delayed Once Again, Possibly Until 2009 (2 September 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9728/Case+Against+The+Pirate+Bay+Delayed+Once+Again%2C+Possibly+Until+2009> at 3 September 2008
[41] ZeroPaid, Case Against The Pirate Bay Delayed Once Again, Possibly Until 2009 (2 September 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9728/Case+Against+The+Pirate+Bay+Delayed+Once+Again%2C+Possibly+Until+2009> at 3 September 2008; Slyck, The Pirate Bay Faces Lousy $740,000 Indictment (31 January 2008)
<http://www.slyck.com/story1652_The_Pirate_Bay_Faces_Lousy_740000_Indictment> at 5 February 2008; ZeroPaid, The Pirate Bay: 'We'll Keep Operating Even If We Lose Copyright Case' (1 February 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9238/The+Pirate+Bay%3A+%27We%27ll+Keep+Operating+Even+If+We+Lose+Copyright+Case%27> at 4 February 2008; The Register, Pirate Bay slapped with copyright charges (31 January 2008) <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/31/pirate_bay_case/> at 4 February 2008; TechDirt, Pirate Bay Sued, As Expected (31 January 2008) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080131/095659139.shtml> at 4 February 2008; Digital Music News, Swedes Still Serious on Pirate Bay; Salvos Launched (30 January 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/013108pirate> at 4 February 2008; TechDirt, What Good Will A Swedish Lawsuit Against The Pirate Bay Do? (29 January 2008) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080128/19330699.shtml> at 31 January 2008
[42] TechDirt, Warner Music Admits It Hired Police Investigator Before The Pirate Bay Investigation Was Complete (5 June 2008) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080605/1646031320.shtml> at 7 June 2008; ArsTechnica, Investigator controversy surfaces over Pirate Bay case (5 June 2008)<http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080605-investigator-controversy-surfaces-over-pirate-bay-case.html> at 6 June 2008
[43] ArsTechnica, Pirate Bay: MPAA's $15.4 million damage claim a fabrication (9 May 2008) <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080509-pirate-bay-mpaas-15-4-million-damage-claim-a-fabrication.html> at 10 May 2008; The Local, The Pirate Bay faces massive damages claim (8 May 2008) <http://www.thelocal.se/11614.html> at 10 May 2008; ZeroPaid, IFPI Demands $2.56 Million USD from The Pirate Bay (3 April 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9377/IFPI+Demands+%242.56+Million+USD+from+The+Pirate+Bay> at 8 April 2008; Digital Music News, Labels File Against Pirate Bay; $2.5 Million Sought (2 April 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/040108pirate> at 3 April 2008; ArsTechnica, Pirate Bay on IFPI lawsuit: Labels can "go screw themselves" (1 April 2008) <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080401-pirate-bay-on-ifpi-lawsuit-labels-can-go-screw-themselves.html> at 2 April 2008; Sveriges Radio, Pirates Buoyant Despite Damages Claim (1 April 2008) <http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/International/nyhetssidor/artikel.asp?ProgramID=2054&Nyheter=&artikel=1984922> at 2 April 2008
[44] ArsTechnica, Booty call: Music has-beens line up to sue The Pirate Bay (17 February 2008) <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080217-booty-call-music-has-beens-line-up-to-sue-the-pirate-bay.html> at 18 February 2008; ZeroPaid, Village People Sue The Pirate Bay, ABBA to Follow? (16 February 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9273/Village+People+Sue+The+Pirate+Bay%2C+ABBA+to+Follow%3F> at 18 February 2008
[45] ZeroPaid, Case partly based on evidence collected in the 2006 server raid. (29 January 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9223/The+Pirate+Bay+to+be+Charged+by+Swedish+Prosecutors> at 30 January 2008; ZeroPaid, 4,000 Legal Documents Sent to ThePirateBay (17 January 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9201/4%2C000+Legal+Documents+Sent+to+ThePirateBay> at 20 January 2008
[46] TechDirt, Musician Upset That He's Being Used In Lawsuit Against Pirate Bay (17 April 2008) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080416/135916866.shtml> at 23 April 2008
[47] Slyck, The Pirate Bay Breaks 10 Million Users (26 January 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1643_The_Pirate_Bay_Breaks_10_Million_Users> at 31 January 2008; The Register, Pirate Bay hits ten million peers, one million torrents (28 January 2008)<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/28/pirate_bay_claims_largest_p2p/> at 30 January 2008washingtonpost/The Associated Press, Italy blocks Swedish file-sharing site (14 August 2008) <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/14/AR2008081401638.html> at 20 August 2008; TorrentFreak, The Pirate Bay Smashes 12,000,000 BitTorrent Users (24 April 2008) <http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-smashes-12000000-bittorrent-users-080424/> at 27 April 2008; Slyck, The Pirate Bay's 20 Million (3 November 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1789_The_Pirate_Bays_20_Million> at 5 November 2008
[48] ZeroPaid, The Pirate Bay Enters Top 100 Websites (24 May 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9510/The+Pirate+Bay+Enters+Top+100+Websites> at 5 June 2008; <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080519/0227541162.shtml> at 21 May 2008
[49] ZeroPaid, MiniNova - 4 Billion Downloads (19 February 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9276/MiniNova+-+4+Billion+Downloads> at 21 February 2008
[50] ZeroPaid, Rapidshare Losses in Court - Must Proactively Remove Copyrighted Content (2 October 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9781/Rapidshare+Loses+in+Court+-+Must+Proactively+Remove+Copyrighted+Content> at 5 October 2008; TechDirt, Germany Says P2P Company Must Proactively Monitor Content For Infringement (1 October 2008) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20081001/1233262430.shtml> at 5 October 2008
[51] P2p Blog, Court: Edonkey sever admin not liable for infringement (9 September 2008) <http://www.p2p-blog.com/item-842.html> at 12 September 2008
[52] Digital Music News, French Labels Suing Limewire, Morpheus, Others (19 November 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/111808france> at 20 November 2008; ZeroPaid, French Court Okays Music Industry Lawsuit Targeting P2p Companies, Sourceforge (18 November 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9849/French+Court+Okays+Music+Industry+Lawsuit+Targeting+P2P+Companies%2C+Sourceforge> at 19 November 2008; TechDirt, French Recording Industry Sues SourceForge For Hosting Open Source P2P (14 November 2008) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20081114/1457012833.shtml> at 16 November 2008
[53] Digital Music News, French Labels Suing Limewire, Morpheus, Others (19 November 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/111808france> at 20 November 2008; TechDirt, French Recording Industry Sues SourceForge For Hosting Open Source P2P (14 November 2008) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20081114/1457012833.shtml> at 16 November 2008
[54] Slyck, BREIN Continues Dutch Anti-Piracy Mop up (13 July 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1712_BREIN_Continues_Dutch_AntiPiracy_Mop_up> at 23 July 2008; ZeroPaid, Razorback 3.0, 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 Servers Forced Offline by BREIN (22 July 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9642/Razorback+3.0%2C+3.1%2C+3.2+and+3.3+Servers+Forced+Offline+by+BREIN> at 23 July 2008
[55] ZeroPaid, Razorback 3.0, 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 Servers Forced Offline by BREIN (22 July 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9642/Razorback+3.0%2C+3.1%2C+3.2+and+3.3+Servers+Forced+Offline+by+BREIN> at 23 July 2008
[56] ZeroPaid, Mexican Authorities Shut Down 'Sunnydale' DC Hub (22 July 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9640/Mexican+Authorities+Shut+Down+%27Sunnydale%27+DC+Hub> at 23 July 2008