3 Count: Back Online

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1: The Pirate Bay Returns After 2 Days Downtime

First off today, Ernesto at Torrentfreak writes that The Pirate Bay has returned after 2 days of downtime and that it was not caused by the recent raid at the Swedish host PRQ. According to representatives for the site, they were taken offline because of a faulty power distribution unit and not because their servers were seized. They had to wait to get the part and be able to install it. During the downtime, other torrent sites received a boost of traffic and the outage was long enough that even mainstream media began to take notice, with many posts blaming the raid for the closure.

2: PRQ Raid Targets Revealed, Pirate Party Gets Boost, Plot Thickens

Next up today, speaking of the raid at PRQ, in another article at Torrentfreak Enigmax, writes that the target of that raid has become known. The seizure of the three servers took down dozens of suspected file sharing sites, but all have returned save Tankafetast, a site that was once the second-most popular Swedish torrent site. The administrators of the site had actually quit after the Supreme Court in Sweden refused to hear the appeal of The Pirate Bay admins who were convicted of criminal copyright infringement, however, the domain had remained online until the raid. Tankafetast, in the meantime, have forwarded their domain to the Swedish Pirate Party’s Facebook page, which has seen a spike in likes and new registrations following the raid.

3: New Fast-Track Court for Copyright Disputes Launched

Finally today, in the UK, the Intellectual Property Office has set up a new “small claims court” for copyright owners who want to sue individuals but where the damages are less than £5000 ($8,000). The court will be run through the Patent County Courts and aims to both expedite and reduce the cost of both suing for and defending against claims of copyright infringement. Many are already speculating that the system could be used when and if the nation’s three strikes regime starts up as a means of dealing with infringers who don’t respond to the notices.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today. We will be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I hope to hear from you.

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