Prince to sue The Pirate Bay

Found on CNet News on Friday, 09 November 2007
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Continuing an aggressive campaign to defend his copyrights, pop star Prince is preparing to file lawsuits in three countries--including the United States--against The Pirate Bay, CNET News.com has learned.

The Pirate Bay does not host any unauthorized movie files, but the service is internationally famous for being a highly effective pirate tool.

Within the next few days, Prince will file similar suits against The Pirate Bay in the U.S., France, a country with laws favorable to copyright owners, and Sweden, where The Pirate Bay is based.

Prince has hired Giacobbi and Web Sheriff, a service that protects copyright materials from Internet piracy, to coordinate the legal challenges against The Pirate Bay and others who the singer believes has violated his copyright.

In September, the singer said he planned to take legal action against The Pirate Bay, YouTube, and eBay. As of Friday, Prince's lawsuits appeared to be solely targeted at The Pirate Bay.

By suing The Pirate Bay in three different countries, Prince is hoping to put financial pressure on the service, Giacobbi said. Copyright laws in the United States and France would make it nearly impossible for a site like The Pirate Bay to triumph, he claimed.

Of course they will get a default judgment in France and the US, simply because TPB won't care. They can't harm them in Sweden because they won in another country. TPB members can then be arrested if they visit that country though. But I think they can live with that. One of the names in this article should be well-known to TPB visitors: Web Sheriff; they don't seem to be much of a threat. I wonder why Prince dropped the idea to sue Ebay and Youtube; I guess it's better for your image if you to go after the "real bad guys". Although Ebay and Youtube probably make much more money with his pirated works than TPB makes with advertising.