The Pirate Bay Appeal: Judge Removed For Bias

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The Pirate Bay is still seeking to appeal an earlier verdict which labeled the torrent site illegal and could force the owners of the website to go to prison.

Controversy is never far away in this case, and one of the appellate judges (although other reports suggest that the person removed was more involved in administrative duties, and is not actually schooled in law) that will hear the appeal has been removed due to bias. Apparently, the judge owned shares in Spotify, a website that has numerous deals with the companies represented by the RIAA. But it wasn't the TPB that asked for the judge's removal, it was the copyright holders, citing that they want a fair trial whose verdict cannot be challenged.

I actually think this is a very calculated move by the people suing TPB. Even though the removed judge supported a website that had links to the copyright holders that are now suing TPB, what the judge may also have is technical knowledge in regards to online distribution and also is obviously a supporter for these types of new technologies. Essentially, a judge that may actually understand the underlying issues of the case has just been removed at the request of the copyright holders, and this may actually hurt TPB more because finding a judge that is knowledgeable in these matters is very hard indeed, and judges that do not understand will almost always side with industry.

More:

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/09/piratebaysaga/