Fredrik Neij (R) and Peter Sunde (C), two co-founders of the file-sharing website, The Pirate Bay, arrive at the Swedish Appeal Court in Stockholm on September 28, 2010. 
 
 STOCKHOLM One of the founders of file-sharing website Pirate Bay has been arrested in southern Sweden to serve an outstanding sentence for copyright violations after being on the run for nearly two years, Swedish police said on Saturday. 
 
 Peter Sunde had been wanted by Interpol since 2012 after being sentenced in Sweden to prison and fined for breaching copyright laws. 
 
 "We have been looking for him since 2012," said Carolina Ekeus, spokeswoman at the Swedish National Police Board. "He was given eight months in jail so he has to serve his sentence." 
 
 Ekeus said Sunde had been arrested on Saturday in the southern Swedish county of Skane but she was not able to provide further details. 
 
 Four men linked to Pirate Bay were originally sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of 32 million crowns ($4.8 million). An appeals court later reduced the prison sentences by varying amounts, but raised the fine to 46 million Swedish crowns ($6.9 million). 
 
 In September, 2012, Cambodia arrested and deported another Pirate Bay co-founder at Sweden's request. 
 
 Swedish media reported on Saturday that Sunde may have been living in Germany in recent years and that Sweden's Supreme Court had as recently as May rejected an appeal from him. 
 
 "He is extremely talented and I still think that the judgment was wrong," Peter Althin, who defended Sunde during the trial, was quoted as saying by Swedish news service TT. 
 
 "It's about being on the cutting edge if one is going to be successful... But if one is too far ahead it is not always about success. Peter fought for file-sharing and in 10 years I think it goes without saying that file-sharing for one's own needs will be allowed." 
 
 Pirate Bay, launched in 2003, provided links to music and movie files that were stored on other users' computers. Swedish subsidiaries of prominent music and film companies had taken the company to court claiming damages for lost revenue. 
 
 Despite the Swedish court case, the website is still functioning. On its website, Pirate Bay says it is now run by a different organization and is registered in the Seychelles. 
 
 ($1 = 6.6797 Swedish Kronas) 
 
 (Reporting by Mia Shanley; Editing by Sandra Maler) 

 Peter Sunde, the co-founder of the BitTorrent file-sharing website Pirate Bay, has been arrested in Southern Sweden. 
 
 Reuters reports that Sunde’s arrest followed several years on the run following an earlier conviction for Pirate Bay-related copyright violations — although Sunde has remained visible and active within the tech scene over this period. 
 
 Another Pirate Bay co-founder, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, was arrested in Cambodia in 2012 and deported to Sweden at the time. A third, Fredrik Neij, remains at large. The site’s key financier, Carl Lundstroem, served out his sentence and now lives in Switzerland according to ABC News. 
 
 Sunde will now serve the eight-month jail sentence handed down in 2010 for breaching copyright law. Sunde was also fined 46 million SEK (nearly $7 million) at the time. 
 
 The Pirate Bay website turned 10 years old last August, and continues to function — although the website notes it is now run by an organization, rather than individuals, and is registered in the Seychelles. 
 
 After moving on from Pirate Bay, Sunde had continued to be active in the digital sphere. In 2010 he co-founded a social micro-donations startup called Flattr, which — ironically enough — gives consumers of online content a way to pay for the stuff they like. 
 
 Flattr has attracted funding from Passion Capital and others, and counts Passion’s Eileen Burbidge as a board member, according to CrunchBase. 
 
 We’ve reached out to Burbidge for comment on Sunde’s arrest and will update this post with her response. 
 
 Update: In comments on Sunde’s arrest, Burbidge told TechCrunch that she is “deeply saddened” by the news of his arrest. 
 
 “I believe that history will look back on peer-to-peer and file sharing networks and highlight what a farce it was for the recording industry to litigate against developers and technology providers who wrote software — which enabled both legal and illegal activities alike as agnostic platforms. (This is akin to suing ISPs for what internet users do or the telephone company for illegal activities people might conduct/transact in a telephone call.),” said Burbidge. 
 
 “The fact that Peter has been arrested in order to serve out a criminal sentence for his role in The Pirate Bay is such a stark contrast to where other individuals are at the moment such as Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker (two of the founders of Napster), or Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis (two of the founders of Kazaa). 
 
 “All of these others are heralded as tech visionaries, wunderkinds and positive disruptors for their respective roles in peer-to-peer development, file sharing and how technology has impacted users’ consumption of content and information. They are all now venture capital or angel investors, heralded as industry luminaries — and meanwhile two of the co-founders of The Pirate Bay are sitting in jail cells.” 
 
 Burbidge pointed out that the Pirate Bay remains the only file-sharing case that has resulted in criminal prosecutions. 
 
 “Swedish prosecutors filed criminal charges against TPB founders which was unprecedented and has not happened again nor since in any other jurisdiction. It’s important to recognize that this is what led to the criminal convictions and custodial sentences (jail time). Napster and Kazaa both settled civil lawsuits initiated by record labels for $36 million and $100 million, respectively,” she said. 
 
 Regarding Flattr, Burbidge added that Passion Capital remains proud to be an investor. 
 
 “We always hoped that common sense would prevail and Peter would have been able to continue working on all of the positive contributions he was making to the internet and online culture overall, including Flattr among other projects,” she added. 
 
 [Image by Share Conference via Flickr]
– After almost two years, Swedish police have caught up with one of the founders of the Pirate Bay file-sharing site and he has been sent to serve an eight-month sentence for copyright infringement. Peter Sunde, who was sentenced and fined nearly $7 million in 2010, was captured in southern Sweden but is believed to have spent most of the last few years hiding out in Germany, reports Reuters. Another co-founder was arrested in Cambodia, a third is still on the run, and a fourth, the site's main financier, has already served his sentence and is now living in Switzerland. Sunde's lawyer says he still believes the sentence was wrong. Sunde "fought for file-sharing and in 10 years I think it goes without saying that file-sharing for one's own needs will be allowed," he says. Ironically, Sunde also co-founded a start-up called Flattr, which gives consumers a way to pay for online content, TechCrunch notes. One of Flattr's board members says she is "deeply saddened" by Sunde's arrest. "I believe that history will look back on peer-to-peer and file sharing networks and highlight what a farce it was for the recording industry to litigate against developers and technology providers who wrote software—which enabled both legal and illegal activities alike as agnostic platforms," she says.