Gottfrid Svartholm, one of four co-founding members of the now-defunct Pirate Bay filesharing service, failed to show up in court today to appeal the 2009 ruling of criminal copyright infringement against him and his three co-founders. Separate appeals trials for the other three founders (Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde, and Carl Lundström) ended in guilty verdicts in November 2010, but at the start of those trials, Svartholm also failed to show and the court decided to postpone his particular appeal. Neij, Sunde, and Lundström have vowed to appeal to Sweden’s Supreme Court, but without Svartholm, they can’t move forward. Svartholm has three more weeks to file for appeal again before the 2009 ruling will become final, resulting in $905,000 in damages due and a year’s worth of jail.
Though much mystery has swirled around the whereabouts of Mr. Svartholm, it turns out he’s been in a hospital in Cambodia. Based on his facial hair choices alone, one presumes he’s infiltrated the oft-overlooked Cambodian metal scene and was laying low before getting hurt while headbanging too aggressively at a show. Svartholm’s mother was supposed to travel to Southeast Asia to take care of and presumably oversee the safe transfer of her son back to Sweden for his hearing but failed to do so.
Meanwhile, Sunde and Neij recently launched Bayfiles.com, most likely to try and get some cash flowing via ‘legal’ channels in case their appeals continue to not go as planned.