By Tim Conneally, Betanews
Tomas Norström, the Stockholm District Court Judge who presided over the Pirate Bay copyright infringement trial in Sweden is now himself under scrutiny for being a member of two copyright protection organizations, the Swedish Copyright Association (SFU), and Swedish Association for Industrial Property (SFIR).
While the guilty verdict against the four keepers of the Pirate Bay has already been appealed, Pirate Bay attorney Peter Althin said he has filed for a re-trial on the grounds that the court was biased.
The groups to which Norström belongs are outspoken advocates of copyright law reform. SFU's membership includes members of the Swedish Anti-Piracy Bureau, and members of the IFPI, the organization which earlier this year claimed that 95% of all music downloads are unauthorized.
"Every time I take a case, I must assess whether I am personally involved. I did not feel that I am biased because of those commitments," Norström said in an interview on Sveriges Radio P3.
"It's quite clearly a delicate balance, " said Leif Silbersky, one of Sweden's most famous lawyers and legal pundits. In Swedish law, the concept "Delikatessjäv" (lit: "Delicate Shuffle") refers to the understanding that in important matters, it is practically impossible to be fully impartial, so the next best thing to be is flexible. If someone is capable of bias in one way, he must be equally capable of bias in the opposite way.
Since the judge is responsible for evaluating the bias in jurors, he must also weigh his own bias and decide whether he is capable of being swayed in either direction, or else recuse himself. During the jury selection, Norström dismissed a potential juror on the grounds that he had some degree of personal involvement with copyright organizations.
Rick Falk Vinge, head of the Swedish Pirate Party, said, "This is corruption and decay on a completely inexcusable level. The judge in the most high-profile legal case of the whole year turns out to be a member of a highly partial interest group for one party in the proceedings, and also spent time privately with the prosecuting lawyers. The whole trial must be declared a material loss and redone from scratch."
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009