However you feel about internet file sharing, when the music industry took notorious file sharing website The Pirate Bay to court for promoting copyright infringement, it really was a David vs. Goliath battle.
Standing against a consortium of international rights holders including Sony BMG, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros (and their team of expensive lawyers) was a group of just four young webmasters from Sweden, who were being sued for $13 million in damages.
Görel Wallis with some of her flowers
To fight their case, The Pirate Bay relied heavily on the testimony of a series of expert witnesses; among those who testified was Roger Wallis, Professor emeritus of Multimedia at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, who told the court there was no relationship between increased internet filesharing and declining album sales.
Upon leaving the stand, the court asked Professor Wallis whether he would like to be reimbursed for his appearance. “You are welcome to send some flowers to my wife,” he responded. Keeping an eye on the trial from around the world, hundreds of supporters of The Pirate Bay decided to act on his suggestion.
Several Stockholm florists had soon taken anonymous orders of flowers for Professor Wallis’ wife, Görel – hundreds of them, and they kept flooding in.
The Wallis’ home was soon overflowing with bouquets, and when they had filled all their vases they started sharing them out amongst the other residents in their apartment building.
“We will make sure it will be beautiful here,” commented a delighted Görel.
The generosity of the file sharing community – a section of internet users labelled as ‘thieves’ by prosecutors – was welcomed by Professor Wallis, who revealed that his wife had been very worried about his grilling on the stand, having not slept for two days.
In total, Görel received over 4,100 Euros worth of flowers from well-wishers, plus a range of other gifts such as chocolate.
