On Tuesday, the Rights Alliance (Rättighetsalliansen), formerly known as the Anti-Pirate Bureau (Antipiratbyrån), sent a letter to the Pirate Party as well as Swedish internet service provider (ISP) Serious Tubes Networks demanding they stop providing internet access to The Pirate Bay.
“If they don’t stop, we will have to go to court,” Sara Lindbäck of the Rights Alliance told the TT news agency.
The Pirate Party, founded in Sweden in 2006 and advocating for an overhaul of copyright laws, has been serving as a host for The Pirate Bay since 2010 after the filesharing site’s previous hosts were served injunctions from several Hollywood movie studies.
In the letter, the Rights Alliance cites a February 2012 decision by Sweden’s Supreme Court (Högsta domstolen) not to hear an appeal of the Pirate Bay trial, in which the four men behind the site were found guilty of being accessories to copyright infringement.
According to the Rights Alliance, the ruling means that hosting The Pirate Bay constitutes a “criminal act”.
However, Pirate Party head Anna Troberg rejected claims that the Swedish political party was breaking the law.
“The Pirate Party’s activity is legal and lawful activities should not be subjected to threats of this type. It is not illegal to provide the Pirate Bay with internet access,” she said in a statement.
The Pirate Party and Serious Tubes have until February 26th to respond to the demand, with the Rights Alliance promising to file lawsuit if the groups don’t promise to cut off The Pirate Bay’s internet access.
The Local/dl
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