If you follow the Internet industry with any regularity, you’re already aware of the relationship the entertainment industry shares with The Pirate Bay. That is to say, it’s not a very good one. Truth be told, if Hollywood had its way, The Pirate Bay would be a smoldering husk of a website, one that was taken out long ago by orbital nuclear strikes.

The funny thing is, if that was to happen, would the United States government even care? I’m of the mind they’d risk war with Sweden as long as it stamped out the terrible scourge of Internet piracy. Anyway, I’m happy to say we haven’t reached such a tipping point at this time, although, it wouldn’t surprise me if we did in the near future. In lieu of a nuclear exchange, some Hollywood entities attempted a more tried-and-true measure against the The Pirate Bay: takedown requests.

That’s right, at least one movie studio–DreamWorks–has, in the past, sent a formal letter to The Pirate Bay’s owners, asking them to remove infringing content. In this case, the content in question is Shrek 2, which was released in 2004. Apparently distraught over seeing the files on The Pirate Bay’s website–which is actually not accurate because TPB does not host any media files–DreamWorks reacted with their sharpest weapon: a legalese-filled letter that was ridiculed upon its reception.

The letter in question, with the original formatting intact:

To Whom It May Concern:
>
> This letter is being written to you on behalf of our
> client, DreamWorks SKG (hereinafter “DreamWorks”).
> DreamWorks is the exclusive owner of all copyright,
> trademark and other intellectual property rights in
> and to the “Shrek 2” motion picture. No one is
> authorized to copy, reproduce, distribute, or
> otherwise use the “Shrek 2” motion picture without
> the express written permission of DreamWorks.
[…]
> As you may be aware, Internet Service Providers can
> be held liable if they do not respond to claims of
> infringement pursuant to the requirements of the
> Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). In
> accordance with the DMCA, we request your assistance
> in the removal of infringements of the “Shrek 2”
> motion picture from this web site and any other sites
> for which you act as an Internet Service Provider.
> We further declare under penalty of perjury that we
> are authorized to act on behalf of DreamWorks and
> that the information in this letter is accurate.
> Please contact me immediately to discuss this matter
> further.

To which, The Pirate Bay responded:

As you may or may not be aware, Sweden is not a state in the United Statesof America. Sweden is a country in northern Europe. Unless you figured it out by now, US law does not apply here. For your information, no Swedish law is being violated.

Please be assured that any further contact with us, regardless of medium, will result in

a) a suit being filed for harassment
b) a formal complaint lodged with the bar of your legal counsel, for sending frivolous legal threats.

It is the opinion of us and our lawyers that you are ……. morons, and that you should please go sodomize yourself with retractable batons.

Please also note that your e-mail and letter will be published in full on http://www.thepiratebay.org.

Go fuck yourself.

Polite as usual,
anakata

After reading that, it’s safe to say TPB did not comply with DreamWorks’ request. Furthermore, it wouldn’t be the least bit surprising to find out that the “go fuck yourself” attitude from these services is a direct contributor to silly legislation like SOPA, PIPA, and CISPA. Old money doesn’t like being disrespected by their youthful counterparts, and when it is, the scorched earth approach is something that’s not out of the question.

Lastly, when considering the potential damage the aforementioned Internet regulation bills can do, scorched earth in the name of fighting Internet piracy is an apt description.