Pirate Bay operator faces new probe

Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, one of the four men recently sentenced to prison in The Pirate Bay trial, is the subject of an investigation by Swedish prosecutors looking into his role in The Student Bay, a file sharing site specializing in academic texts.

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The site, which was launched in March 2008, allows students to scan and upload pages of course literature into an archive which is then available for downloading.

While The Student Bay carries a logo almost identical to that of The Pirate Bay and contact information available when the site was launched directed readers to The Pirate Bay, Svartholm-Warg told The Local at the time that he had no knowledge of the site.

"I don't know anything about it," he told said in March 2008.

The Swedish Association for Educational Writers (SLFF) reported the site to the police in December 2008 claiming it violated copyright law.

The group is hopeful that the ruling against the men behind The Pirate Bay will add strength to their case against The Student Bay.

“The ruling is a clear victory for copyright holders,” said SLFF chair Jöran Enqvist in a statement, adding that the verdict was “also important for academic publishers”.

According to the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper, the case is now in the hands of two special prosecutors tasked with looking into crimes against Sweden’s copyright laws.

Prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad confirmed that Svartholm Warg was included in the investigation.

“According to the complaint he’s also involved in The Student Bay. He’s implicated along with another person,” he told SvD.

He added, however, that the investigation is still in its early stages, with current efforts focused on determining how The Pirate Bay verdict may affect the case.