Filesharing site founders face jail

Three founders of the website The Pirate Bay have lost their appeal in Sweden against convictions for encouraging filesharing. They face jail and fines totalling £4.1m.

Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundstrom as well as Gottfrid Svartholm Warg were convicted in April last year and were sentenced to one year each in prison and ordered to pay £2m in damages to a coalition of 17 entertainment companies including Warner Bros, Sony, EMI and Columbia Pictures.

Yesterday, the Swedish Court of Appeal reduced the jail sentences but doubled the financial penalty. Neij was sentenced to 10 months, Sunde to eight months and Lundstrom four months. Warg was not in court, because of illness.