Copyright Law

Court Review Says Pirate Bay Trial Judge Not Biased

By soulxtc

Concludes his membership in several pro-copyright groups was merely an educational tool that increased his knowledge of the issues.

The Stockholm District Court reviewing the charge of bias leveled against presiding Pirate Bay trial Judge Tomas Norström has concluded that the accusation is unfounded.

The charge was leveled after revelations that during the trial for which the Swedish BitTorrent tracker site would eventually be convicted for the facilitation of copyright infringement, Judge Tomas Norström was an active member of several pro-copyright groups, one of which even actively lobbies for more stringent copyright laws.

Even more startling is that membership included some of the entertainment industry’s own lawyers, the IFPI’s Peter Danowsky in particular.

The court found that his membership alone in these groups didn’t make him bias, that they were important educational opportunities that helped keep him up to date on copyright issues. If a ridiculous argument. One doesn’t have to be a member of a group in order to be up current with a given topic. More importantly, how can one argue impartiality if that same group lobbies for the sort of conviction he subsequently metes out in his court rulings?

The ruling is sure to further anger the huge number of Swedish youth (19% of those under age 30) who turned out to vote in droves yesterday, and gave the Swedish Pirate Party 2 seats in the EU Parliament.

Many of the country?s youth have been angered over what they see as an intrusion by foreign, primarily US-based, entertainment industry conglomerates into the private affairs of a sovereign country. They understand that copyright laws were essentially written in a world before digital content that no longer exists, and that ultimately paralyze the ability of citizens to freely communicate and interact with one another.

With the Pirate Party now having 2 seats at the “table,” all of that may soon change.

“The first thing that will happen in the the new EU parliament is the third reading of the telecom reform package,” said Pirate Party leader Rick Falkvinge the day after his party’s spectacular win.

Stay tuned.

jared@zeropaid.com

Full post as published by ZeroPaid on June 08, 2009 (boomark / email).