STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Four music industry giants want heavy fines imposed on the three founders of The Pirate Bay filesharing website as long it keeps running, the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported Tuesday.

Universal, EMI, Sony and Warner asked the court to fine Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg and Peter Sunde as long as their website continued to function, the paper's online edition reported.

Peter Danowski, the record industry lawyer's lawyer in this case, refused to comment to AFP.

All three men were found guilty on April 17 of having promoted copyright infringement through their filesharing site -- together with a fourth defendant, Carl Lundstroem.

They were sentenced to a year in jail and ordered to pay 30 million kronor (S$5.2 million) to the movie and recording industry.

They are currently appealing the verdict.

The verdict against them did not concern the website itself, which continues to function.

Founded in 2003, The Pirate Bay makes it possible to skirt copyright fees and share music, film and computer game files using bit torrent technology, or peer-to-peer links offered on the site.

None of the material can be found on The Pirate Bay server itself. --AFP