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The Pirate Bay, one of the largest file-sharing sites providing links enabling internet surfers to illegally download copyrighted movies, found itself hit with a fresh legal challenge on 28^th July 2009, just three months after it operators - Gottfrid Svartholm, Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij and Carl Lundstrom – received one year prison sentences (pending appeal) and a £3 million fine for facilitating file-sharing.   A group of 13 Hollywood studios – many of whom were part of the first case – including Disney Enterprises, Columbia Pictures and Universal Pictures filed the lawsuit calling for the site to be closed down with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).  The studios were angry that the original ruling did not include an order for the site to be closed down.   The lawsuit also claimed that Reservella, the Seychelles-based owner of the site, is actually a front and that the site is owned by Frederik Neij – a claim which he and the site’s other operators deny.

Monique Wadsted, a lawyer representing the studios said, ‘We have filed a complaint against The Pirate Bay because they have not stopped their activities after they were sentenced to prison.’

Since the original case, Swedish software company Global Gaming Factory X offered £4.7 million for the site with the intention of turning it into a legal operation, but the company said the deal would only be finalised in the site could be made legal.

Talking to BBC News, Peter Sunde responded to the news in typically laid back and defiant fashion: ‘I'm on vacation, sleeping a lot and eating great vegan food,’ he said.  ‘The latest threats are just harassments from the industry of course. We've actually asked the courts to punish them with a high fine for the faulty threats.’

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