Back in April the music industry was awarded $3.6 million in damages when the four men behind file-sharing site Pirate Bay were found guilty of copyright violations. They each also received a year in jail.
At the end of last month Pirate Bay was sold to Swedish software company Global Gaming Factory, which is currently in negotiations to take it legit. The price was $7.8 million, half in cash, half in company stock.
The music industry, in the form of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, sees this as a chance to collect its money, and is going to actively pursue it, according to CNET. There’s just one small flaw in the cunning plan – the people behind Pirate Bay say they haven’t actually owned the company for years, and Global Gaming Factory has confirmed that it’s actually owned by Reservella, which is based in the Seychelles.
Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde told Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter:
"We never had any interest in earning money from the Pirate Bay. We haven’t owned TPB since the search and seizure in 2006… Those who will get the money, friends in a foreign company, have agreed as a condition to put the money in a foundation for future internet projects."
