GGF stockholders approve Pirate Bay acquisition

IDG News Service - Global Gaming Factory X AB shareholders voted to acquire file-sharing site The Pirate Bay at a meeting in Stockholm on Thursday.

The outcome of the vote wasn't a surprise, because GGF CEO Hans Pandeya and his family control a majority of the shares.

But several questions need to be answered before the new version of The Pirate Bay promised by Pandeya -- one that will compensate copyright owners -- comes online.

The big issue is whether GGF will be able to put up the 60 million Swedish kronor ($8.2 million U.S.) the company has agreed to pay for The Pirate Bay. Trading in GGF shares has been suspended since Aug. 21 because AktieTorget, the stock exchange where GGF is listed, had not received sufficient information about the funding of The Pirate Bay acquisition. This issue still persists.

After a meeting with the company on Wednesday, AktieTorget reached the conclusion that GGF lacks the ability to inform its stockholders in a correct, relevant and credible way, it said on Thursday. A company that lacks that ability cannot be allowed to be traded, it concluded.

AktieTorget's disciplinary committee will take a closer look at GGF and advise the stock exchange on whether the company should continue to be listed. Trading will not resume until the board has made a decision based on the disciplinary committee's advice.

However, according to Pandeya, the funding to secure the deal is in place, even though a number of investors have left the venture because of recent turbulence in the media.

There is also the question of what will happen to GGF's planned acquisition of software technology company Peerialism AB, whose peer-to-peer technology GGF plans to use in the new Pirate Bay's infrastructure. On Wednesday Peerialism's CEO, Johan Ljungberg, said he had not heard from GGF in three or four weeks and wasn't very hopeful.

Copyright owners are also taking a wait-and-see approach to GGF's plan for a legal version of The Pirate Bay.

"I'll believe it when I see it," said Cato Strøm, CEO at Tono, an organization that represents composers, lyricists and music publishers in Norway. Tono is fronting a lawsuit to get Norwegian ISP Telenor to block access to The Pirate Bay.