Prosecution blasted by defense for continually presenting evidence before it has a chance to review it, Sunde’s attorney even comparing it to an episode of "Perry Mason."
The trial resumed with Peter Sunde, one of the four founders of The Pirate Bay BitTorrent tracker site, taking the stand, and the prosecution wasted no time making a mockery of the Swedish judicial system.
The prosecution grilled Sunde about him being the spokesperson for The Pirate Bay and why he took up the role, apparently trying to portray him as being part of the site’s management and there responsible for its alleged misdeeds.
"[I did it] since noone else wanted to take on that role so I took it upon me to do it," he replied.
"Do you have any leading function in TPB," asked Swedish prosecutor Håkan Roswall.
"No, not really," said Sunde. He noted that it was voluntary work for which he had no expectation for compensation.
Peter Danowsky, attorney for the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), then began to question Sunde about his views on an article published by The Real Media. He then brought a copy of the article to Sunde while still on the witness stand. The four page article angered his defense attorney who was amazed the prosecution would introduce new evidence without the defense first having a chance to read it.
"Has nothing been learned from yesterday?" said Peter Althin, who represents Sunde. "Is there any more new papers that are going to be submitted?"
“This is starting to become an American trial where you toss in new evidence after the fact. Proceeding in this manner is surprising, to say the least,” said Althin, who likened the trial to en episode of Perry Mason."
“Suddenly, the door opens and in walks an entirely new witness,” he said.
Per E. Samuelsson, attorney for Carl Lundström, also voiced his disapproval with the move.
“All the documents you’re hiding need to be put on the table,” he said.
The attorneys representing The Pirate Bay defendants also demanded that no new documents be introduced without the defense team being given access to them first.
The head of the court decided to call for a special deliberation to determine the court’s stance on the matter.
After the break, the court ruled in favor of the defense, meaning that all evidence which as cited in court must be handed over before questioning the accused.
“If you have documents which you eventually plan to use, you need to hand them over now,” the chief judge told Danowsky.
Danowsky proceeded to hand over eight documents to the court, most of them newspaper clippings, but also several blog citations, including some from Sunde’s own blog.
Sunde went on to testify that he hasn’t made any money from TPB.
"I have not made any money from TPB and have not got a million kr under the mattress," he said.
He also presented a study of some random 1000 torrent files from the site and showed that around 70-80% of the content was non-copyrighted. This compares to YouTube which has a much bigger proportion of copyrighted material on it.
So concludes day #5. Stay tuned
Further reading:
NOTE: The trial is being covered via twitter HERE as it occurs, with the legend for abbreviations HERE. You can also watch a quick video recap in English HERE.
jared@zeropaid.com
Related Posts
- Day #1 of The Pirate Bay ‘Spectrial’ in Sweden
- The Pirate Bay ‘Spectrial’ Day #8 – Record Exec Takes the Stand
- The Pirate Bay ‘Spectrial’ Day #11 – Defense’s Closing Arguments
- The Pirate Bay ‘Spectrial’ Day #11 – Prosecution’s Closing Arguments
- Day #4 of The Pirate Bay ‘Spectrial’ – Accused of ‘Purposeful Crime on Grand Scale’
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“This is starting to become an American trial where you toss in new evidence after the fact.”
IANAL however from my understanding of US law surprise evidence and witnesses are not allowed in US courts unless the evidence is exculpatory or there are some extenuating circumstances (and even then judges don’t like it). Like most legal systems the procession is required by law to turn over all documents to the defense.
Honestly I don’t think I’ve ever seen a coordinated legal attack go down in flames like this. This is like a TV court drama complete with an overaggressive prosecution staffed by bumbling “punch-clock” villains.
Secretary: IT is here to see you Mr. Kennedy.
Kennedy: Mmm. Good send him in!
Kennedy: These blasted computers will be the end of me…
IT guy: You asked us to see you?
Kennedy: Yes. I think there is a computer bug of some sort on my computer?
IT guy: Really? *walks over to see his computer*
Kennedy: Yes. I’m trying to send an… what do you call it e… electronic… letter to my Swedish collegue…
IT guy: Oh yes?
Kennedy: …and this person whome I already threatened to sue who goes by the name “Mail Daemon” keeps telling me over and over again that the server is unreachable.
IT guy: Oh. Uhm. Terribly sorry sir but that’s what is called an “automated message”
Kennedy: Automated messages? You mean hackers can send those now?
IT guy: Uh. Alright. Let’s back up here. That mail daemon… “person”… as you described is actually our service.
Kennedy: Your service?! You mean it’s been you this entire time sending those messages.
IT guy: Well… heh… no sir we-
Kennedy: I’ll sue you for this!
IT guy: Sir. Please… c-calm down. I didn’t send those. That’s a service that no one really *sighs* controls. It’s telling you the truth when it says that the server is unreachable.
Kennedy: Really? Why is that?
IT guy: The Swedish service is actually down right now and won’t be up for a little while.
Kennedy: What happened?
IT guy: Well the Swedish IT guys got the idea that if they pretended the website was hacked by supporters of ThePirateBay then we could gain some support over in Sweden.
Kennedy: Intriguing. Have you ever thought about becoming a lawyer… like… right away?
IT guy: Uhm. No sir.
Kennedy: You seem to know a lot about these computers.
IT guy: Well not really a lot about the law myself sir.
Kennedy: Oh don’t let the lack of a passion for law stop you!
IT guy: Well I am flattered-
Kennedy: Believe me I know a legal team that could benefit greatly from your expertise!
IT guy: I am truly grateful for this but I’m afraid I’ll have to decline.
Kennedy: Oh no I insist! Really!
IT guy: *smiles* Heh. I’m sorry sir. Uhm. Let’s stick to the problem at hand shall we.
Kennedy: Rats! *sighs* very well. Continue.
IT guy: The Swedish IT sent out a memo but I’m guessing you didn’t get it. *envisions himself looking at his own computer saying “Oh taking down their server? That’s a funny one!”*
Kennedy: No I don’t believe so.
IT guy: Well what happened in the process was that instead of modifying one of the pages they accidently deleted the entire website.
Kennedy: They did?
IT guy: A backup was saved but unfortunately the e-mail had somehow been lost in the process.
Kennedy: What??? There was important documents on the e-mail server!
IT guy: Well that is the Swedish service not the American service. Ours is still fully operational.
Kennedy: Oh. Wait will the service be able to get all of those addresses?
IT guy: No I’m afraid not.
Kennedy: This is terrible! We could wind up losing millions over this!
IT guy: What… uh… what is so important about the Swedish service? …if you don’t mind me asking?
Kennedy: This is a trade secret so you can’t tell anyone about this.
IT guy: Of course.
Kennedy: My Swedish collegue recieved information about a prince in Nigeria who is in possession of 450 million dollars. We would get a commission if we sent him an amount of money-
IT guy: Uh sir?
Kennedy: No this is important information-
IT guy: Sir?
Kennedy: What? What is it?
IT guy: That’s a Nigerian 419 scam.
Kennedy: A Nigerion what?
*buzz*
Secretary: The lawyer is here to see you.
Kennedy: I’m in a very important meeting right now can you tell him to wait for a moment?
Secretary: Yes Mr. Kennedy.
Kennedy: Go on.
IT guy: A Nigerian 419 scam. There is no money. They just make up excuses and keep getting you to send them money. They’re not even princes.
Kennedy: All three of them?
IT guy: Yes… yes… all three of them.
Kennedy: …and I was about to… uhm… warn him about that. Good work. I’ll have to phone him up later today about that instead.
IT guy: Good idea sir. Sorry I can’t do anything more at this time about the e-mail issue.
Kennedy: I guess you can’t fix all of the worlds problems. Even law related ones.
IT guy: Uh… no sir. Not really but we do try.
Kennedy: You are dismissed. I have important business to attend to.
IT guy: Thank you sir. *leaves*
Secretary: Yes sir?
Kennedy: Yes you can send him in now.
Secretary: Yes one moment sir.
Kennedy: *murmers* Now to deal with my world problem.
Lawyer: You wanted your daily update.
Kennedy: Yes. I trust there is a good amount of bad news so why not just give me the good news today?
Lawyer: Very well will that be all?
Kennedy: Uh yes.
Lawyer: Very well. Have a good day sir. *turns to leave*
Kennedy: Hey! Get back over here!
Lawyer: *turns white but turns back around to face him*
Kennedy: I can’t seem to take my eyes off of your team for a second can I?
Lawyer: We’re doing the best we can sir.
Kennedy: What happened this time?
Lawyer: You want the bad news?
Kennedy: *sighs* Yes I want the bad news.
Lawyer: Well we filed that news article for evidence…
Kennedy: …
Lawyer: …and we submitted it too late and the court rejected it.
Kennedy: YOU DID IT AGAIN???
Lawyer: Sorry… sir.
Kennedy: You said you were professional! Years and years of experience and you can’t even hand evidence in on time!?
Lawyer: We submitted the rest of the evidence for examination. At least we have that.
Kennedy: This is an outrage! We got you how many months plus that extension and you can’t even work within that???
Lawyer: It was…
*envisions a loud partying with hundreds of different kinds of alcohol sitting around. Several people cheering around a table with several servers sitting on the table in the middle. One of them screaming “I can’t believe we got that extension. This is the best party ever man!”*
…some technical issues that couldn’t be resolved with the servers.
Kennedy: *sighs* How many millions did we funnel into this investigation…?
Lawyer: I know sir we were… very… er… disappointed with the turn of events too.
Kennedy: Well if you’re team needs any assistance we have a very capable IT department who will be more than happy to help you out. I’ll even pay an extortionate amount of money for you if the need arises too.
Lawyer: Erm… sir?
Kennedy: Nevermind. You are dismissed.
Lawyer: *thinks “What? No ‘get out of my sight’? I think things are improving now!”*
Lawyer: Yes sir. *leaves*
Kennedy: *makes sure he’s gone*
*buzz*
Secretary: Yes Mr. Kennedy?
Kennedy: Mm yes. Get me that guy that bribed the judge in the MGM vs. Grokster case.
Secretary: Right away sir.