Global Gaming buys The Pirate Bay
Rogue site to switch to legal operation
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Global Gaming paid Swedish kroner 60 million ($7.7 million) for the company, which it intends to relaunch as a legal download site.
Global Gaming CEO Hans Pandeya said the company had bought The Pirate Bay because it was a global brand with more than 20 million visitors and more than one billion page views per month, making it one of the top 100 most visited sites in the world.
"In order to live on, The Pirate Bay requires a new business model, which satisfies the requirements and needs of all parties, content providers, broadband operators, end users and the judiciary," Pandeya said. "Content creators and providers need to control their content and get paid for it. File sharers need faster downloads and better quality."
In April, the website's Swedish owners — Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij and Carl Lundstrom — were sentenced to one year in prison each and $3.6 million in damages. They are appealing against their convictions.
Warner Bros., MGM, Columbia Pictures, Fox, Sony BMG, Universal and EMI had sought damages of some $14 million to cover lost revenues from users downloading content via the site.
In the European Parliamentary election in June, a political party supporting The Pirate Bay founders attracted more than 7% of all votes cast in Sweden, giving the party a seat in the parliament.
