Somehow, through all the rekindled controversy over the past several months, The Pirate Bay has managed to stay online, but it turns out there will be a few casualties. On Tuesday, TorrentFreak reported that the Stockholm District Court has ruled that The Pirate Bay’s popular Swedish domains will be seized.
DON’T MISS: Android is about to get a new Google Maps update – download it here before it’s released
Without delving too deep into the backstory of this decision, prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad, the same individual who helmed the operation which temporarily took The Pirate Bay down late last year, filed a motion in 2013 arguing that Sweden’s Internet Infrastructure Foundation, the organization in charge of the top level .SE domain, should be held responsible for the criminal activity of The Pirate Bay.
The foundation fought back, noting that being punished for simply holding the registry has no basis in law. The company also explained that shutting down a domain wouldn’t do anything to kill or even hinder The Pirate Bay.
The case was finally heard in April 2015, and after a few weeks of deliberation, the court decided to allow Sweden to seize ThePirateBay.se and PirateBay.se, two of the most visited of the torrent site’s domains. Furthermore, the Internet Infrastructure Foundation will not be charged.
“The District Court’s conclusion is that the domain names are property that can be forfeited,” the ruling reads. “Fredrik Neij [co-founder of The Pirate Bay] has participated in the [copyright infringement] crimes that have been identified and he is the actual holder of the domain names. It is therefore no obstacle to confiscate domain names from him.”
It’s a small victory for those opposed to piracy, but an insider tells TorrentFreak that The Pirate Bay has plenty of domains in reserve for just such an occasion.
