STOCKHOLM, April 17, 2009 (AFP) - A Stockholm court on Friday found four men guilty of promoting copyright infringement by running The Pirate Bay, one of the world's top websites for illegal filesharing, and sentenced them to a year in prison.

The court also ordered the four - Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundstroem - to pay damages of 30 million kronor ($5.3 million).

"The Stockholm district court has today convicted the four people charged with promoting other people's infringement of copyright laws," it said in a statement.

Representatives of the movie, music and video games industry had sought some 117 million kronor ($20.9 million) in damages and interest for losses incurred from tens of millions of illegal downloads facilitated by the site. --AFP