Social science researchers who study resistance movements and civil disobedience came from Gothenburg University. Such a separate trial was however denied. Schultz would have liked to see a separate civil lawsuit in which such claims would be scrutinized in greater detail. Record companies are seeking some damages but the Hollywood studios are going for the big kill and asking for about $10 million for five movies that has been shared. He considers the sought damages grossly inflated. Marten Schultz, a professor of tort law at Stockholm University was present and called it 'a formative legal policy event'. He asks that this amount, as well as a lot of servers and equipment, be forfeited, in addition to sentencing the defendants to fines and jail time. The prosecutor claimed the gross revenue to their operations amounted to the equivalent of $150,000 before the raid in May 2006. The defendants didn't deny any of this, but claimed that the advertising income just covered part of their expenses for running and developing their heavily trafficked site. Hence, The Pirate Bay started selling ads on the site, and became more organized. Perhaps recognizing that public opinion was against him, the prosecutor painted a somewhat benevolent picture of the Defendants during his opening statement, telling a story about some very gifted computer nerds who started an ideologically-based project that grew larger, and began needing more resources to keep up with its popularity. They said they wanted to support the good forces of the world and convert bad ones to their cause. Your correspondent was served homemade 'Creative Commons cookies' by teenage girls in fantasy genre garb. Crowds of Pirate Party and Pirate Bureau members were circling the court, inside and outside. Public radio and TV have special sites and have broadcast the audio from the courtroom in its entirety.

The largest Swedish newspapers have bloggers covering the trial live as the top front page story.

Wale the gifted pirate bay