Oink, oink is due to appear in courts.

The Guardian has reported today that the founder of Oink, a filesharing site, has been charged with conspiracy to defraud. In addition, four users of the site have been charged with copyright infringement. Oink has been closed since eleven months and the case is due to be heard at the Cleveland Magistrates Court later in September.

Oink has reportedly been one of the biggest file sharing sites online (a reported number of 200,000 users) and did not host any infringing material. On the contrary, it was a 'tracker' for BitTorrent files and allowed its users to share music. Membership to the site was free and the only way in which the site generated revenue was through occasional donations.

CyberPanda is very keen to find out what evidence led to the allegation of conspiracy to defraud. It requires a stretch of imagination to say what acts may have led to such an allegation in such a context. In addition, it will be interesting to see how the case will evolve in September and to see whether additional users are also sued.

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