Pirate Bay founders found guilty

[sirbruce]

Originally Posted by tirsales

I strongly doubt this - maybe they advanced the progress one year, maybe they did not.

So let's see, Amazon has sold more ebook readers than anyone else, 10% of it's total book business last year was ebooks, they've made more commercial ebooks available on Kindle than anyone else, they've released two ereaders, they've been endorsed by Oprah... and yet you only credit them with a year of progress? You think all of those things would have happened if the Kindle never came out? Everyone would be using Sony instead? I doubt it.

[sirbruce]

Originally Posted by netseeker

Amazon has done more to make ebooks commercially viable for amazon itself than all previous stakeholders combined.

And for consumers. And for anyone selling non-DRM MOBI books, since their ereader supports those.

Originally Posted by netseeker

I'm sure you know what amazon charges from authors and publishers in the affiliate program.

Yes, it's extremely generous for authors. For publishers less so, but publishers are free to put up their own storefront and start selling MOBI books.

Originally Posted by netseeker

Imho amazon already has too much market power (at least here in europe) and abuses this market power (acts like a monopolist) sometimes against authors and publishers.

Go whine to the EU then. We're talking about ebooks here; they don't sell the Kindle in Europe.

[netseeker]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

Go whine to the EU then. We're talking about ebooks here; they don't sell the Kindle in Europe.

Even if i get your point you are getting rude now and hence i will stop here.

[zerospinboson]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

Go whine to the EU then. We're talking about ebooks here; they don't sell the Kindle in Europe.

Couldn't you perchance change the somewhat silly-sounding "provocateur" to "great wit" (or something) in stead, and try to live up to that self-description? It might do wonders for how you're perceived around here.

[netseeker]

Originally Posted by netseeker

it seems to me that such paid book readings are much more important for authors in europe than in the us because i know some authors here and the revenues of book readings, conventions and so on are a important proportion of their income. In other words: Those authors couldn't live from their work without these revenues.

Just for the interested readers: I got asked if i could back up my statement about some authors here in germany. One of them published an article (unfortuntely in german only) and mentioned what i wrote in the post above: http://irights.info/index.php?id=747. (Google translation here).
The articles main topic is on copyright infringement in Iran but in the two passages "Das Problem ist das Geld" (The problem is the money) and "Verschiedene Geldquellen" (Various sources of income) she writes about her sources of income.

[sirbruce]

Originally Posted by zerospinboson

Couldn't you perchance change the somewhat silly-sounding "provocateur" to "great wit" (or something) in stead, and try to live up to that self-description? It might do wonders for how you're perceived around here.

Thanks for the PR advice. I'll refrain from returning the favor.

[tirsales]

Not sure whether they have been linked already:

http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/0...620697,00.html
http://www.thelocal.se/19028/20090423/

Originally Posted by thelocal

A lawyer representing one of the men convicted in the Pirate Bay trial has called for a retrial after reports that the judge was a member of the same copyright protection organisations as several of the main entertainment industry representatives.

Originally Posted by Spiegel

Neue Aufregung um den Pirate-Bay-Prozess. Kaum ist das Urteil gesprochen, beschwören Kritiker einen Justizskandal. Der Richter soll Mitglied in Lobbyverbänden sein, denen auch die Kläger anhören.

[tirsales]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

So let's see, Amazon has sold more ebook readers than anyone else, 10% of it's total book business last year was ebooks, they've made more commercial ebooks available on Kindle than anyone else, they've released two ereaders, they've been endorsed by Oprah... and yet you only credit them with a year of progress? You think all of those things would have happened if the Kindle never came out? Everyone would be using Sony instead? I doubt it.

As I said - they might have progressed eBooks for some time - but they are not the driving force of the market.
eBooks will come - Amazon or not. German eBooks are made available for the Sony - not for the Kindle.

[zerospinboson]

Originally Posted by tirsales

As I said - they might have progressed eBooks for some time - but they are not the driving force of the market.
eBooks will come - Amazon or not. German eBooks are made available for the Sony - not for the Kindle.

That's just because the kindle isn't sold there.
Anyway, I don't mind if amazon provides publicity (because that's the main function of that company).. they can reach joe public, not iRex with their crappy PR, nor Sony with its flaky commitment.

Der Richter soll Mitglied in Lobbyverbänden sein, denen auch die Kläger angehören.

Anyway, if this is accurate, that would be very, very stupid.

[tirsales]

Originally Posted by zerospinboson

That's just because the kindle isn't sold there.
Anyway, I don't mind if amazon provides publicity (because that's the main function of that company).. they can reach joe public, not iRex with their crappy PR, nor Sony with its flaky commitment.

Of course - still: Amazon aims for a monopolization of this market (otherwise they wouldn't have used a closed format). And this is a bad thing.

Anyway, if this is accurate, that would be very, very stupid.

Oh yes. AFAIK and IIRC the judge stated that he actually is a member of those consortia, but that this has not influenced his decision.

[zerospinboson]

Originally Posted by tirsales

Of course - still: Amazon aims for a monopolization of this market (otherwise they wouldn't have used a closed format). And this is a bad thing.

Sure, any company does (unless they think it entirely unfeasible). That said, I'd prefer it if they adopt ePub over Mobi, as the format sucks less (and will be readable forever), doesn't exclude other platforms, etc. But as long as some of those retail companies have digital versions from which they can brew those "sold" versions I expect we won't have too much of a problem.
But it's only a bad thing if other players don't jump in (and there has to be more interest once companies start noticing that there's money to be made there (like sony might have). But I expect that once other readers become bigger, they'll have to offer books to them as well, in order to keep those people as customers.

Oh yes. AFAIK and IIRC the judge stated that he actually is a member of those consortia, but that this has not influenced his decision.

Right. That's going to convince just about everybody, especially because it wasn't known beforehand.

[Jovvi]

I know for a fact that authors in Sweden gets paid, not only by bookstores but also by for example libraries (such as the one I work in) for coming here and talk about their books, and not just the wellknown authors either but frequently up and coming authors or authors that write books about special themes (dyslexia, how to feel better about yourself and so on...). Authors of childrens books often visits schools and have different kinds of workshops (this also goes for illustrators). What you pay the author is pretty much the same wether it´s a famous author or an unkown talent (but the famous ones are of cause harder to book).

Clara

[tirsales]

Isnt there some Amazon-rant-thread somewhere? We could continue there

Originally Posted by zerospinboson

Sure, any company does (unless they think it entirely unfeasible).

Problem is: It IS feasible for Amazon to get such a monopole. They already are willing to use their market power to force publishers into agreements (e.g. either the publisher enlarges Amazons profit margin or the books are removed from several link-lists) - and I really dont want to see Amazon getting a quasi-monopole on eBooks.

That said, I'd prefer it if they adopt ePub over Mobi, as the format sucks less (and will be readable forever), doesn't exclude other platforms, etc. But as long as some of those retail companies have digital versions from which they can brew those "sold" versions I expect we won't have too much of a problem.

Well ... why did'nt they use the normal mobi-format but instead forced an arbitrary different "Kindle only" format? (I actually dont care about the difference - it is not possible (out of the box) to use the kindle with other stores, or to use their eBooks with other readers)

But it's only a bad thing if other players don't jump in (and there has to be more interest once companies start noticing that there's money to be made there (like sony might have).

If Amazon would be willing to let other stores sell Kindle-Books or let Kindle-Users use other DRM-formats - which they seem not to be...

But I expect that once other readers become bigger, they'll have to offer books to them as well, in order to keep those people as customers.

Yes?

[marcanuck]

STOCKHOLM–A defense lawyer in the Pirate Bay file-sharing case said Thursday he will demand a retrial after the judge admitted he was a member of copyright protection organizations.

A Stockholm court last week convicted four men behind the notorious website of helping others commit copyright violations and gave them one-year prison sentences.

They also were ordered to pay damages of 30 million kronor ($3.6 million) to entertainment companies, including Warner Bros., Sony Music Entertainment, EMI and Columbia Pictures.

Peter Althin, who represented Pirate Bay spokesman Peter Sunde in the case, said he would request a retrial after Judge Tomas Norstrom confirmed Swedish Radio reports he was a member of two Swedish copyright groups.

Althin said that constituted a conflict of interest, especially considering that three people who represented the entertainment industry during the trial also held membership in one of the organizations.

"This is completely new to me. It is reasonable that we should have known about this before," Althin told The Associated Press. "It is a clear case of bias.''

With an estimated 22 million users, The Pirate Bay has become the entertainment industry's enemy No. 1 after successful court actions against file-swapping sites such as Grokster and Kazaa.

All defendants said they would appeal the district court's verdict on Friday. The request for a retrial would likely be included in the appeal, Althin said.

Norstrom acknowledged to Swedish Radio that he was a member of The Swedish Association for Copyright, as well as a board member of the Swedish Association for the Protection of Industrial Property. He also said he has worked alongside Monica Wadsted, who represented the American movie industry in the trial, to solve disputes related to Internet domain names. However, he rejected that there was any conflict of interests.

"I don't think there are any circumstances that have made me biased in this case," he said.

Sunde – the Pirate Bay spokesman – called the judge's links to the copyright groups "quite remarkable," and told AP the case had turned into a "farce.'

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by tirsales

Oh yes. AFAIK and IIRC the judge stated that he actually is a member of those consortia, but that this has not influenced his decision.

I can't state anything about Swedish jurisprudence, but in the US, that by itself would get the decision thown out, as the judge should have reclused himself due to possible conflict of interest. You will even see US Supreme Court decisions with less that 9 votes due to reclusions...(Owership of stock, even 1 share, of involved companies, ect.)