Swedish politician Kent Ekeroth, of the nationalist Sweden Democrats, is now using copyright as a means of silencing a critical newspaper. Ekeroth was the epicenter of a political scandal in 2010, where it was revealed that three leading members of the Sweden Democrats had armed themselves with iron pipes and attacked people with verbal racist and sexist remarks. 

As Ekeroth’s own video spread across the Internet through major news sources, such as Expressen, in November 2012, the scandal grew and led up to one of the participants leaving the Swedish Parliament, and Ekeroth stepping down from his major role in the party.

Ekeroth has now contacted the newspaperDagens Nyheter with an invoice for using his images when reporting on the scandal, threatening to sue them if it is not paid. Dagens Nyheter have responded that they will not pay Ekeroth’s invoice, and will fight it in court if need be.

This is a further example of the state of copyright law in the world, which was  exemplified earlier this year when the Pirate Party reported the Swedish minister of IT for using copyrighted images from her Instagram account and the American politician Sarah Palin  was sued for useing  a copyrighted photograph on her Facebook page.

The ongoing case between Ekeroth and Dagens Nyheter is led by Staffan Teste, of Bildombudsmannen AB, a company specialised in invoicing and suing for the use of copyrighted images, which Pirate Times has previously reported on.

Featured image is CC BY-NC-SA Kris

About Anton Nordenfur

I’m party organiser for the Swedish Pirate Party, and work as a freelancing writer and translator. I’m primarily interested in research politics and LGBTQ rights, and blog in Swedish over at antonnordenfur.com.

 

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Swedish politician Kent Ekeroth, of the nationalist Sweden Democrats, is now using copyright as a means of silencing a critical newspaper. Ekeroth was the epicenter of a political scandal in…