Only A Flesh Wound

Global Gaming Factory X seems determined to go ahead with its bid to buy and legalise The Pirate Bay file-sharing site, whatever setbacks it has to overcome on the way.

One of the U.K. business papers described GGF chief exec Hans Pandeya as being like the Black Knight character in the film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” who gets all his limbs cut off one by one but still insists “it’s just a flesh wound.”

The latest setback is The Pirate Bay founders being ordered to remove all links to material owned by a group of Netherlands-based music and filmmakers.

Pandeya hoped to forge partnerships with global record labels and content owners that would enable it to use their material, but so far no such deals have been announced.

The action brought by Stichting Brein was against The Pirate Bay’s former spokesperson Peter Sunde, along with founders Frederik Neij and Gottfrid Svartholmmen. They could face fines of up to $9 million if they don’t comply within three months.

In April, they were found guilty of breaking copyright law and sentenced to a year in jail. They were ordered to pay a coalition of media firms $4.5 million in damages.

The recent order to remove the links came shortly after it became harder for Pandeya to get his hands on the capital needed to buy the pirate site.

A Swedish court has seized control of all his assets as former business partner Johan Sellstrom has shown evidence that Pandeya and Global Gaming still owe him the equivalent of about $400,000.

The Swedish district court ruled that the state would hang on to Pandeya’s assets until enough can be sold to pay back Sellstrom.

The court said that Pandeya can appeal the decision but his assets will remain in the hands of the court until the appeal is heard.
In the past, Pandeya has said that he would use his own assets to secure any loans he received to help him acquire The Pirate Bay. That could be tough while his assets are in the government’s hands.

Pandeya was driven to use his own assets after Global Gaming was booted off the Swedish stock exchange for misleading the market.

GGF was de-listed from AktieTorget Sept. 9, after the exchange’s disciplinary committee said it had misled investors over The Pirate Bay acquisition and also over the negotiations it claimed to have had with a global company regarding music rights.