The Stockholm District Court has argued in a report filed with the Svea Court of Appeals that judge Tomas Norström was not biased in his ruling against The Pirate Bay.
Concern for Norström’s associations arose when it was revealed that he is a standing member in the Svenska föreningen för upphovsrätt (The Swedish Copyright Association) which counts Henrik Pontén, Peter Danowsky and Monique Wadsted — all of whom represented the entertainment industry in prosecuting The Pirate Bay — amongst its members.
Norström also sits on the board of Svenska föreningen för industriellt rättsskydd (Swedish Association for the Protection of Industrial Property), an advocacy group for more stringent copyright law.
The discovery prompted Peter Althin, lawyer for Peter Sunde (brokep), to immediately file an appeal where he would demand a retrial.
In the interim, the Stockholm District Court suggests that the criticism is misguided.
The court argues that membership within the copyright organizations serve to stay abreast of copyright legislation issues and are not grounds to establish a bias.
Pirate Bay defense lawyers have maintained that Norström was hand-picked by the court to handle the high-profile case in conflict with the standard procedure of random judicial selection. Stockholm Chief Justice Lean Berke has disagreed strongly with the charge.
“This we strongly reject. The selection was made in adherence with the District Court’s rules of procedure,” she said.
It is not yet known when the Svea Court of Appeals will be ready to pronounce their final decision in the case.
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