Italians are preparing for the trial of The Pirate Bay

Following the verdict handed down by the Swedish court, the Italians decided to start their trial against The Pirate Bay and people associated with it. This will be the first criminal prosecution against the founders of the bay outside their home country.



In August last year, a judicial decision attempted to establish censorship in the Italian segment of the Internet, ordering providers to block access to the Pirate Bay site. The pirates appealed and eventually won the case. In October, the Bergamo Court ruled that no foreign website could be censored due to alleged copyright infringement.



However, now having the Swedish court decision in hand, the Italian justice system is seriously considering the possibility of starting the process against the TPB administrators. It should be noted that The Pirate Bay tracker has no connection with Italy.



However, the anti-piracy lobby is already celebrating a victory. “The charge is the same as in Sweden and therefore we are quite optimistic about receiving a similar sentence in Italy,” says Enzo Mazza, President of the Italian Federation of the Musical Industry ( FIMI ).

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The defense does not understand the optimism of the opposite side. Francesco Paolo Mikozzi and Giovanni Battista Gallus, lawyers for The Pirate Bay and representatives of Peter Sunde told TorrentFreak that the bosses of the music industry are in the clouds.



“We strongly disagree with the fact that the court decision in Sweden somehow gave the green light to the Italian prosecution,” they said. “First of all, this is a decision in the first instance and it is not relevant at the moment.”



“Secondly, the Italian precedent has many weighty differences, starting with questions of jurisdiction, which makes a decision on a Swedish case much less relevant than it might seem at first glance. Thirdly, each decision must be based on its own evidence, in Italy everything must be started from scratch, ”they explained.



According to the lawyers of Sunde, a discussion is currently underway on whether the evidence collected by the Swedish side can have legal force or not. At the moment, the only thing that may have weight in court is the blocking of Pirate Bay, which is illegal in terms of criminal law.



However, the entertainment industry is already taking a step forward and is thinking about how to divide production. Simona Lavagnini, one of the lawyers representing the Italian music industry, said she didn’t really want to surrender the defendants, but the fines and confiscation of property are quite real.



After a few months, the Italian prosecutor’s office will decide whether to prosecute TBP or not. The decision of the court about blocking providers The Pirate Bay is currently appealed and will be considered in September.