The guys at thepiratebay.org have publicized the email they've received from various legal agencies. They've also posted their rather humorous responses. They're Swedes and they're crazy. But I still have to admire their guts. I doubt they'll be online much longer. Below is the email (and their response) to them from Dreamworks.
From: anakata To: KMWLAW@flash.net Subject: Re: Unauthorized Use of DreamWorks SKG PropertiesOn Mon, 23 Aug 2004 KMWLAW@flash.net wrote:
> Dennis L. Wilson, Esq.
> KEATS McFARLAND & WILSON, LLP
> 9720 Wilshire Blvd., Penthouse Suite
> Beverly Hills, CA 90212
> Tel: (310) 248-3830
> Fax: (310) 860-0363
>
>
> August 23, 2004
>
>
> VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL
> AND U.S. MAIL
>
> ThePirateBay.org
> Box 1206
> Stockholm 11479
> SWEDEN
>
> tracker-40-aa-5f-03-412675c8@prq.to
>
> Re: Unauthorized Use of DreamWorks SKG Properties
> http://www.thepiratebay.org
>
> To Whom It May Concern:
>
> This letter is being written to you on behalf of our
> client, DreamWorks SKG (hereinafter ^ÓDreamWorks^Ô).
> DreamWorks is the exclusive owner of all copyright,
> trademark and other intellectual property rights in
> and to the ^ÓShrek 2^Ô motion picture. No one is
> authorized to copy, reproduce, distribute, or
> otherwise use the ^ÓShrek 2^Ô motion picture without
> the express written permission of DreamWorks.
[...]
> As you may be aware, Internet Service Providers can
> be held liable if they do not respond to claims of
> infringement pursuant to the requirements of the
> Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). In
> accordance with the DMCA, we request your assistance
> in the removal of infringements of the ^ÓShrek 2^Ô
> motion picture from this web site and any other sites
> for which you act as an Internet Service Provider.
> We further declare under penalty of perjury that we
> are authorized to act on behalf of DreamWorks and
> that the information in this letter is accurate.
> Please contact me immediately to discuss this matter
> further.As you may or may not be aware, Sweden is not a state in the United States
of America. Sweden is a country in northern Europe.
Unless you figured it out by now, US law does not apply here.
For your information, no Swedish law is being violated.Please be assured that any further contact with us, regardless of medium,
will result in
a) a suit being filed for harassment
b) a formal complaint lodged with the bar of your legal counsel, for
sending frivolous legal threats.It is the opinion of us and our lawyers that you are fucking morons, and
that you should please go sodomize yourself with retractable batons.Please also note that your e-mail and letter will be published in full on
http://www.thepiratebay.org.Go f*** yourself.
Polite as usual,
anakata
...below is an excerpt from the Sega cease and desist letters
From: anakata
To: law@iprights.com
Subject: Re: URGENT - FOOTBALL MANAGER TRADE MARK INFRINGEMENTOn Mon, 1 Nov 2004 law@iprights.com wrote:
Continued on the next page Page 1 — Page 2
Article comments
1 - Aaman
The name/url of the site is incorrect, I'm going to assume, deliberately, so will not provide the right one, to deter pirates looking to anchor in a bay
These guys do this for every C&D letter they receive - some good examples.
2 - trenchier
The correct link is here
http://static.thepiratebay.org/legal/
3 - Dave Nalle
Last I checked Sweden was a signatory to the Bern Convention, and therefore recognizes the legal authority of US Copyright laws, so if the copyright holders want to take thepiratebay.com to court in Sweden they should have no problem bringing the case. The trick to winning will be the same as here in the US - making the case that a P2P service is responsible for what their users do. It's a point that can be debated, but courts seem to mostly come down on the side of the copyright holders, and they should.
Dave
4 - cyanna
one year later and.....thank you tpb for beeing there. I get all my betas downloaded through torrents and can start to work at least a day sooner than my colleagues who struggle with the MS servers.
5 - Glen Boyd
I just want to this site out of sheer curiosity and theres a big banner from something called The Swedish Criminal something or another...
Needless to say, it aint there anymore.
6 - Phillip Winn
They were taken down just this week, Glen; all servers impounded by the Swedish police.
7 - gaejr
ThePiratebay is back, stronger then ever. It cannot be stopped.
8 - Guppusmaximus
Dave,
I believe you are correct.. I'm just wondering what the courts can do about Bit Torrent considering the websites don't host any of the data on their servers.
9 - Pervo
PirateBay is a good site I used to use a lot before I got into a whole load of awesome Private Trackers which are far better.
What does it matter, personally I couldn't care less about copywright laws. If I buy it, I have less money if I download it I don't therefore I download it. Theres allways people who will buy it and industries are going to make more than enough to cover costs plus there are numerous other venues that can be tapped. The fact is that 99.9% of people who just don't give a dammn get software for free without concequences, so what motivation do they have to not download.
10 - Les
All of those multi-million dollar mega-corporations can blow their threats out of their asses. I get no greater sense of enjoyment than by ripping them off. I just got fired from my last job, which was with a multi-million dollar corporation, for swindling them out of a bunch of money. Even though I got fired, I would do it all over again just for the kicks I got from doing it.
11 - mike
the music,movie,and software corp. charge to much for their products.People must really love to see Microsoft get a huge kick in the balls ,they charge to much for a near monopoly of a computer software operating system.every time winxp gets cracked,it's like you kick 'em in the balls.So tell me ,who wouldn't want to knock the"big guy" down and out.