Pirate Bay sells out to Swedish software firm for $7.7m
Plans biz model that compensates copyright owners
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Global Gaming Factory X AB (GGF) has agreed to buy BitTorrent tracker site The Pirate Bay for $7.7m (60m Swedish Crowns), according to a statement on the company's website.
The Swedish software outfit confirmed the acquisition this morning. Under the deal GGF has also bought file sharing tech firm Peerialism.
"We would like to introduce models which entail that content providers and copyright owners get paid for content that is downloaded via the site", said the company's CEO Hans Pandeya.
GGF will take control of the site once the transaction completes, which is expected to happen next month.
"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.
"Content creators and providers need to control their content and get paid for it. File sharers need faster downloads and better quality," said Pandeya.
The Pirate Bay also confirmed the buyout this morning in a blog post on its website.
"We've been working on this project for many years. It's time to invite more people into the project, in a way that is secure and safe for everybody. We need that, or the site will die. And letting TPB die is the last thing that is allowed to happen!", it said.
The co-founders of The Pirate Bay were fined $3.6m in the recent court case. Meaning, on the face of it, they stand to make a profit. Not that they were ever in it for the money.
Meanwhile, key players in the trial against The Pirate Bay have started to give their first reactions to the news.
"We don't know the details and there are many questions to ask about how this will work in practice but we would be delighted if this resulted in The Pirate Bay turning into a legitimate licensed service," the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's CEO and chairman John Kennedy told El Reg. ®
COMMENTS
It pays to be a pirate
Just goes to show it pays to be a pirate.... as long as your willing to sell out in the end and hoist your scurvy crew up by their garters and leave them for the officials to hang.
Unfortunately TPB has always been about impossible ideals. Even now with the buyout. They will never be able to provide the kind of bandwidth across the globe with prices competitive enough to rival physical media. Think about it. Even if they get bandwidth that everyone is happy with what happens when your hard drive dies on you or the install files get deleted by mistake then your left out however much you spent on the software in the first place?
No, I think if you listen very closely you can hear the bell tolling for TPB..
R.I.P Pirate Bay.
Its a CON
lets be honest, the whole point of TPB was to allow people to download Music, Movies and software without paying for it!
Why would anyone who uses TPB carry on using the site if you now have to pay?
Mininova is gimped and now TPB is all but dead, I expect several sites to pop up in thier place!
$7.7 million for a site with no users! HAHAHA they truely are Pirates!
They're putting it in a foundation?
Take the money and run lads - don't be idiots.
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