[LINK] Pirate Bay Judge Accused of Bias, Calls for a Retrial

[Frank O'Connor]

Which all goes to prove that its better to own 
the law than rely on nasties like impartiality 
and unpredictability.

My congratulations to the film, recording and 
other copyright bodies on a strategy that's hard 
to beat.

Wonder how this translates in other countries.

My guess is that this will blow the verdict out 
of the water on appeal ... but you never know how 
many judges the industry has in its pocket.

					Regards,

At 1:40 PM +0200 23/4/09, Kim Holburn wrote:
>The Pirate Bay case goes even weirder:
>
>http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-lawyer-is-biased-calls-for-a-retrial-090423/?a=a
>
>>  Pirate Bay Judge Accused of Bias, Calls for a Retrial
>>  Written by enigmax on April 23, 2009
>>
>>  One of the biggest cases in file-sharing history ended last week 
>>  with The Pirate Bay Four sentenced to huge fines and jail time. 
>>  Today it is revealed that far from being impartial, the judge in the 
>>  case is a member of pro-copyright groups - along with Henrik Pontén, 
>>  Monique Wadsted and Peter Danowsky. There are loud calls for a 
>>  retrial.
>>
>>  It's been almost a week since the verdicts of one year in prison and 
>>  heavy financial damages were passed against the four accused in the 
>>  Pirate Bay trial. The sentence seemed surprisingly tough to many 
>>  analysts, with the court chosing to judge on intent only, dismissing 
>>  all technical evidence.
>>
>>  But did The Pirate Bay Four receive a fair trial? Today, an event on 
>>  Swedish national radio SR threw everything into doubt - and it's 
>>  barely believable, like something straight out of Hollywood.
>>
>>  The copyright industry likes to have the outcome of processes clear 
>>  before engaging them so it's perhaps unsurprising that SR today 
>>  revealed that the judge Tomas Norström is in league with it on many 
>>  fronts. The judge has several engagements - together with the 
>>  prosecution lawyers for the movie and music industries.
>>
>>  Swedish Association of Copyright (SFU) - The judge Tomas Norström is 
>>  a member of this discussion forum that holds seminars, debates and 
>>  releases the Nordic Intellectual Property Law Review. Other members 
>>  of this outfit? Henrik Pontén (Swedish Anti-Piracy Bureau), Monique 
>>  Wadsted (movie industry lawyer) and Peter Danowsky (IFPI) - the 
>>  latter is also a member of the board of the association.
>>
>>  Swedish Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property 
>>  (SFIR) - The judge Tomas Norström sits on the board of this 
>>  association that works for stronger copyright laws. Last year they 
>>  held the Nordic Championships in Intellectual Property Rights 
>>  Process Strategies.
>>
>>  .SE (The Internet Infrastructure Foundation) - Tomas Norström works 
>>  for the foundation that oversees the .se name domain and advises on 
>>  domain name disputes. His colleague at the foundation? Monique 
>>  Wadsted. Wadsted says she's never met Norström although they have 
>>  worked together.
>>
>>  Commenting on the revelations, Pirate Bay spokesman Peter Sunde 
>>  brokep said, "Spectrial Cliffhanger in S01 with the verdict - S02 
>>  started with the judge being biased. Reality beats fiction yet again!"
>>
>>  There are several renowned lawyers and judicial commentators that 
>>  are attacking Tomas Norström's decision to take the case, in spite 
>>  of having a clear conflict of interest.
>
>>  Previously one of the original lay judges in the case had to step 
>>  down when his involvement in a music rights group became known;
>>
>>  "Three lay judges were appointed," said Judge Norström one week 
>>  before the trial. "On a question from me to the lay judges on 
>>  whether they had any involvement in copyright associations or 
>>  similar, or if they are or have been artists one of them answered 
>>  Yes."
>>
>>  That lay judge was removed. It's anyone's guess why the judge didn't 
>>  think the same should apply to him.
>
>
>--
>Kim Holburn
>IT Network & Security Consultant
>Ph: +39 06 855 4294  M: +39 3494957443
>mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
>skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request
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