The Pirate Bay: Can Notorious File Sharing Site Be "Legitimised" By Global Gaming Factory Acquisition?

Swedish Internet cafe giant Global Gaming Factory (GGF) offered to buy notorious file sharing website The Pirate Bay for 60 million kronor ([pounds]4.72m) in June this year.

GGF will vote on whether the transaction will be completed on 27th August.

GGF plans to introduce a policy whereby rights holders can either request to have infringing content removed, choose to leave content on the site or be paid compensation.

GGF's grand plan for the site is to introduce a new commercial model whereby users would pay a subscription fee, and rights holders will be paid for any content that appears on the site. It has also been suggested that users will be able to earn credit for hosting and seeding files.

GGF's CEO, Hans Pandeya, has already suggested that he is close to striking a deal with music industry leaders which would allow the provision of legitimate content on the site.

Despite noble intentions, neither voices from the rights holder community, nor the file sharing community seem particularly pleased about the proposed new Pirate Bay.

For fans of the original Pirate Bay site (generally not known for their eagerness to pay subscription fees), there are fears that the new site will not have the attraction that the current Pirate Bay holds and there will be no reason not to expect them simply to "jump-ship" to the next big file-sharing site waiting in the wings.

Similarly, there is discontent on the part of the rights holders, some of whom have been lobbying for any money paid by GGF to the disgraced founders of the original site to be passed on to them as compensation for past copyright infringements. Rights holders have identified that a major drawback to the proposed "take-down" policy is that rights holders themselves would have to identify the content themselves, or else risk having it appear on the site illegally.

GGF have said that the new site will be ready to go live on 27th August if the vote is in favour of the acquisition. What remains to be seen is whether users will remain loyal to the site and be willing to transform into upstanding Internet citizens. If not, we will wait to see whether there is any incentive at all for Mr Pandeya's music industry friends to work with GGF to build a new Pirate Bay.

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