Days after four defendants in the high-profile Pirate Bay case were found guilty of violating copyright law, the Web site implored fans to stay calm, not to send donations, and to stay united.
In a blog posted to Thepiratebay.org, the controversial BitTorrent tracker said the "verdict has already been appealed by us and will be taken to the next level of court."
Administrators of the court in Sweden did not immediately respond to requests to confirm the filing of the appeal. On Friday, the court convicted Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, and Carl Lundström of charges related to copyright infringement and sentenced each to a year in jail and fined the group the equivalent of US$3.6 million.
The news stirred outrage and disbelief among fans, while those at big entertainment companies rejoiced. Based in Sweden, the Pirate Bay has been accused of encouraging and aiding massive illegal file sharing by media and entertainment companies. The site's founders say they do not host any illegal content and are just a search engine. They have always argued there is little difference between the Pirate Bay and Google.
In the blog post, the Pirate Bay remained defiant.
"The site will live on," the group said in the post. "We are more determined than ever that what we do is right. Millions of users are a good proof of that."
Addressing efforts of some fans to raise money to help the defendants pay the fines, the Pirate Bay asked that such efforts cease. "We do not want (the money) since we will not pay any fines."
This article was first published as a blog post on CNET News.
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