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Pirate Bay founder Peter Sunde has revealed that the words of an MPAA lawyer several years ago inspired the creation of the Missionary Church of Kopimism. The Church hit the headlines this week and was met largely by words of tolerance, but a Catholic bishop has just labeled it “farcical” since it has no God. Interestingly, Pirate Party founder Rick Falkvinge mulls the idea that ‘pirate’ communications may now be barred from evidence in court.

Source: MPAA Lawyer Inspired File-Sharing Religion, Catholic Bishop Unhappy

Rick Falkvinge, founder of the first Pirate Party in Sweden, has earned a spot in Foreign Policy’s prestigious list of Top 100 Global Thinkers. Falkvinge is in good company, listed among many key figures in the Arab Spring and world leaders such as Barack Obama and Angela Merkel. Foreign Policy describes 2011 as the year where Falkvinge’s ideas about transparency, Internet privacy and copyright law are gaining in popularity.

Source: Pirate Party Founder In Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers

In a few weeks Amelia Andersdotter will be the second Pirate Party member to take a seat at the European Parliament in Brussels. The 24-year-old Swede was voted in more than two years ago, but due to bureaucratic quibbles her official appointment was delayed. TorrentFreak catches up with the soon-to-be youngest MEP to hear about her plans and expectations.

Source: Pirate To Join European Parliament As Youngest Member

Despite having booked and paid for their booth at Gamex, Sweden’s largest gaming exhibition, the Pirate Party have been excluded from the action this week. The party, who say they were nagged for 2 to 3 months to book for the event, were this week informed they were too controversial and no longer welcome.

Source: Too Controversial: Pirate Party Banned From Gaming Exhibition

Technology has come a long way since 1841, but the copyright debate at the time was strikingly similar to what we’re witnessing today. 170 years ago a new copyright bill was being discussed in the United Kingdom, one that would extend the rights of book authors to sixty years after their death. While some favored the plan, some feared that this lengthy “copyright monopoly” would only succeed in increasing piracy,

Source: Piracy and Copyright Challenges in 1841 Mirror Those of Today

This week the German Pirate Party reached an impressive milestone as it hit double digits in the polls for the national elections. With one in ten Germans embracing the ideas of the young party, the Pirates are on course to gain serious influence in one of the world’s major political arenas.

Source: German Pirate Party Riding the Wave of Success

The European Greens have released a landmark position paper that should guide their policies on copyright in the digital era. The overall theme is a reduction of the copyright monopoly to the benefit of consumers. Among other things the Greens want to legalize file-sharing for personal use, ban DRM entirely and restrict the copyright term to five years.

Source: European Greens Want to Legalize File-Sharing, Ban DRM

For the first time in history a Pirate Party has managed to enter a state parliament. With an estimated 9 percent of the total vote the Pirate Party exceeded the 5% floor needed to enter the Berlin parliament with several seats. For the international Pirate Party movement this is the second major success after the European elections of 2009.

Source: Pirate Party Enters Berlin Parliament After Historic Election Win

Earlier this year U.S. lawmakers proposed a draconian anti-piracy legislation known as the PROTECT IP Act. When the proposal becomes law, U.S. authorities and copyright holders will have the power to seize domains, block websites and censor search engines to prevent copyright infringements. But file-hosting service RapidShare have a lot to lose by its introduction and are now spending a great deal of money countering the views of pro-copyright lobbyists.

Source: RapidShare Lobbies Lawmakers Against PROTECT IP Act

With the elections for the Berlin state parliament just four weeks away, the German Pirate Party is on course to an impressive election win. A recent poll shows that support for the Pirate Party is growing, and with 4.5 percent of the votes the pirates are getting close to the minimum 5 percent needed to enter parliament with several seats.

Source: German Pirate Party On Course to Election Win