http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1906930/pirate-bay-organisers-win-appealTHE PRINCIPALS behind The Pirate Bay filesharing website have had their prison sentences cut but their fines raised by a Swedish court of appeals.
The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reports that the four men will have their one year sentences reduced, which is handy as they will have to get back to work quickly to raise the 46 million Swedish kronor (£4.2 million) needed to pay their fines. Had they not appealed and done their porridge they would have had to pay only 30 million kronor (£2.7 million).
The Pirate Bay launched its appeal in September of this year, and has always argued that it is just a search engine and is not responsible for the links it delivered.
Although all four are expected to be released early, the WSJ reported that one man, Gottfrid Swartholm Warg, was unable to attend today and will appear for a separate ruling.
The remaining trio, Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi, and Carl Lundstrom had their terms cut to ten, eight and four months, respectively. But those huge fines are, frankly, rather crippling.
A rather sick victory as far as they are concerned.
