A court case relating to file- sharing site The Pirate Bay got under way in Sweden this week. The defendants were initially charged with “assisting in copyright infringement”.

The site, which provides links to illegal download websites but does not actually host the downloads itself, was launched in 2003 and has since become one of the best known file-sharing sources on the internet. Users can choose from a variety of music, TV shows and movies on the site’s directory.

The defendants originally faced up to two years in jail as well as a hefty fine. After only one day of the trial, however, the prosecutor amended over half of the charges, and they now face a lesser charge of “assisting making available copyright material”.

Defence lawyer Per E Samuelsson claimed that the prosecutor had “not really understood how [the technology] works” from the beginning, and that it was “a sensation” that the charge had been modified.