for anti-piracy campaigners , who had long targeted the Web site . Should the perpetrators of Internet piracy be punished ? Have your say The year-long prison terms are for violating Swedish law , while the damages are compensation to the media giants in the civil case -- though the court ordered the men to pay just one-third of the 110 million kronor -LRB- $ 13 million -RRB- which the companies had asked for . Friday 's verdict did not include an order to shut down The Pirate Bay site . Its owners have consistently shrugged off legal threats and police raids , posting letters from entertainment industry lawyers on their Web site with mocking responses . When Dreamworks studio demanded that the site act over file-sharing of Dreamworks ' movie `` Shrek 2 , '' The Pirate Bay threatened to sue for harassment and lodge a formal complaint `` for sending frivolous legal threats . '' `` It is the opinion of us and our lawyers that you are ... morons , '' the response continued , suggesting that studio representatives perform a sexual act . The response closed with an obscenity . Site owners dismissed the effects of
STOCKHOLM , Sweden -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Four men behind a Swedish file-sharing Web site used by millions to exchange movies and music have been found guilty of collaborating to violate copyright law in a landmark court verdict in Stockholm . A Pirate Bay server , confiscated by police last year , on display in Stockholm 's Technical Museum . The four defendants -- Fredrik Neij , Gottfrid Svartholm Warg , Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi and Carl Lundstrom , three founders and one patron of The Pirate Bay -- were sentenced to one year in jail and also ordered to pay 30 million kronor -LRB- $ 3.6 million -RRB- in damages to several major media companies including Warner Brothers , Columbia , Twentieth Century Fox , Sony BMG and EMI . The defendants are free without restrictions while they appeal the judgment . The Pirate Bay allows users to exchange files including movies , music , games and software , but does not host the files itself . It claims more than 3.5 million registered users . The court case , which involved both a criminal case and a civil claim brought by the media companies , marks a key victory