... But in Pirate Bay’s view of the future, the counterfeit-producing middle-men will be cut out of the equation, and individuals will be able to create branded products on their own printers from blueprints the website provides. Assim compares this hypothetical situation with parallel imports such as a consumer in the UK buying a pair of trainers from America that were never intended to be sold outside the US – something that is difficult to police. “What I imagine the brand owners would do is that if the Pirate Bay offering was starting to cause a serious commercial problem they would try to stop it. Brand owners would argue that Pirate Bay is intentionally causing individuals to infringe whichever IP rights there are in those products. Pirate Bay would say that they themselves were not doing it, but the brand owners would counter that they are colluding with individuals or allowing individuals to do it, and they are part and parcel of the infringement. Which I think would be quite a strong argument”. ...
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