Swedish Movie Studios Sue a Topsite Operator

An individual alleged to be the former operator of a so-called piracy “topsite” is being sued for mass piracy. The man from Sweden is accused of facilitating the file-sharing of 2,250 films between 2009 and 2010. 6 largest movie studios in the case are represented by Rights Alliance.

Sweden has become almost synonymous with file-sharing, mostly due to association with the largest tracker in the world The Pirate Bay. Now the country began escalating its efforts to fight digital piracy. In result, a lot of file-sharers have been targeted by anti-piracy groups within the past few years, with the intent to send a message to the public. And since the government provided additional funding, the police was also involved in joint operations.

Recently, the authorities have dealt with smaller cases, but now Swedish police have just charged a man for illegally distributing large amounts of copyrighted content. The Swedish Intellectual Property Division, the individual “intentionally or by gross negligence” unlawfully made movies available online without the consent of the copyright owners on 2,250 occasions.

The accusations also state that the suspect acted in consultation with other persons. He supplied, installed, programmed, maintained, funded and otherwise administered and managed the “topsite” – a file-sharing network where the infringements took place.

The individual was charged in result of an investigation that was initially carried out by Rights Alliance, the Swedish anti-piracy outfit previously known under the name of Antipiratbyran. The agency represents 6 major studios in this particular case, so the usual Hollywood giants will also be directly involved in the lawsuit.

Although there were not many additional details made public, it turned out that the charges related to a raid carried out 4 years ago against “The Scene” – the collection of servers and users which inhabit the top of the “piracy pyramid”.

The case was launched against the “topsite” known as “Devil”. Back in 2010, it was claimed to carry between 200 and 250 terabytes of data. The raid took place in late 2010, during which the police seized a dozen servers and detained one person. According to the press releases following the police raid, the claims were made that the individual was liable for the unauthorized distribution of “tens of thousands” films, most of them being Hollywood movies. However, it later turned out that those estimates have been rounded down.

However, the industry observers point at the element of the case that remains a mystery for now: it is about the prosecution’s current claims that the alleged pirate made the films available “to the public”. As is known, topsites normally don’t deliberately distribute films outside of their immediate circles for security reasons.