Pirate Bay Case Being Appealed

The district court received an appeal on Friday on behalf of Carl Lundström, a spokeswoman at the court said.

Lundström was sentenced to a year in prison, like the other three defendants Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, and Peter Sunde. The court also ordered the four jointly to pay around 30 million Swedish kronor (US$3.6 million) in damages.

The appeal was filed quickly to make a statement about how wrong the sentence is, according to Stefan Jevinger, one of Lundström's two lawyers.

There are a number of things wrong with the sentence, according to the written appeal. For example, the appeal claims that in its grounds for the decision the district court wrote that it hadn't been shown that Lundström knew about the main crime -- yet he was still sentenced for being an accessory to crimes against copyright law. The appeal maintains that you can't be sentenced as accessory to a crime you don't know about.

The lawyers for the other three defendants have until May 8 to file their appeals. The prosecutor then has a week to respond, and then the case will be forwarded from the district court to the court of appeal.

Jonas Nilsson, who represents Neij, is aiming to file an appeal this week or next, and Ola Salomonsson, who represents Warg, said he will file an appeal before the deadline. Peter Althin, Sunde's lawyer, wasn't available to comment, but Sunde has made it clear he wants to appeal.

Nilsson expects the appeal will be heard in the first half of next year.

That timeline sounds reasonable, according to Salomonsson. "This is a bit more complicated than your ordinary bank robbery, and therefore it will take time," he said.

While all this takes place, The Pirate Bay site will continue to live on, according to Sunde.