Dodgy file-sharing website The Pirate Bay (TPB) will soon be snapped up by Swedish company Global Gaming Factory X and the site will be relaunched as a LEGAL file sharing website.
However it won't exactly be smooth sailing as the Swedish government is investigating the company and it remains to be seen if the once mammoth Piratebay will be able to raise the same kind of money as it did before. Since ths ite was shut down a few days ago, most bittorrent users have shifted to other file sharing sites already.
Global Gaming Factory X (GGF) is expected to shell out 60 million Swedish kronor (US$8.2 million) for The Pirate Bay, and a company that lacks that ability cannot be allowed to be traded. However, Hans Pandeya, the CEO of Global Gaming Factory X has confirmed that the funds are in place inspite of most of the major investors backing out because of the constant media attention over the Piratebay case. Software technology company Peerialism is also expected to be taken over by GGF. According to reports, Peerialism's P-to-P technology will be used to power the Piratebay website.
However Peerialism's CEO Johan Ljungberg was doubtful about GGF's plans. "I'll believe it when I see it," he said. Two days ago TPB came back online after being shut down by its former Internet Service Provider. The ISP was fined $70,000 by a court if it did not comply. The court order was the result of legal action brought against The Pirate Bay by the music and film industry.
In April the four founders of Piratebay were found guilty of promoting copyright infringement and will face jail sentences and hefty claims for damages. In July, a Swedish court threw out a request for a retrial. In a press release on Thursday, parodying Winston Churchill's famous speech of 1940, the Pirate Bay team said they would keep the site running "for years if necessary". "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the baywords.org, we shall fight on the /. and on the digg, we shall fight in the courts; we shall never surrender," according to the release.
