Intellectual Property Law

Pirate Bay Purchase Sinking

By David Kravets

The company planning to purchase The Pirate Bay was de-listed from a Swedish stock exchange Thursday on allegations that it duped investors and regulators in the $8.5 million deal.

Threat Level has repeatedly questioned Global Gaming Factory’s intentions of turning the world’s most notorious BitTorrent tracker into a legitimate, pay-to-play site. Now, exchange AktieTorget permanently barred the Swedish-based software concern, casting doubt on how company chief Hans Pandeya would pay for the Bay.

Most investors (if there were any) backed out, and Pandeya promised to use his majority stake, or perhaps issue new shares, to shore up financing. Authorities are also iinvestigating possible insider trading ahead of this summer’s announcement of the pending deal.

Among other things, AktieTorget said the company, in essence, lied to the public that it ever had financing or a pending deal to license content on one of the world’s most visited sites — apparently in a bid to manipulate the penny stock’s price.

Pandeya, however, continues to maintain the deal would go through within weeks even as his own personal possessions are being repossessed because of tax troubles. In an e-mail to Threat Level, he said “The acquisition will go through.”

He added that he will sue the exchange and denied the exchange’s findings.

“I will take legal action against AktieTorget as well in the coming weeks. It is a pity that several years have to be spent in courts on a small caps list that trembles with terror and panics when it meets the unknown, but that is part of the treatment a Big Brother society needs,” he said.

Meanwhile, BitTorrent tracker, The Pirate Bay, is still up and running, despite a court ordering it shuttered following the copyright convictions of its four founders.

See Also:

• Incoming CEO’s Manifesto for New Pirate Bay
• Court Tries to Kill Pirate Bay; Cat-and-Mouse Game Begins ? Update …
• Pirate Bay Buyer Says Record Deal Imminent
• Shareholders Approve Pirate Bay Purchase
• Pirate Bay Heads to Davy Jones’ Locker
• After Sale, Can Pirate Bay Survive?

Full post as published by Threat Level on September 10, 2009 (boomark / email).