Poll: Swedish pro file-sharing party gains support

(AP) -- A new poll shows a Swedish party that calls for legalizing Internet file-sharing could win a seat in the European Parliament in June.

The poll published Thursday in the Stockholm newspaper Dagens Nyheter shows the Pirate Party's backing has surged after a court verdict against The Pirate Bay file-sharing site. Four men behind The Pirate Bay were convicted this month of copyright violations and sentenced to a year in prison.

The survey of about 1,500 people shows 5.1 percent of Swedish voters support the Pirate Party. Four percent is the minimum for a seat in the European Parliament. The error margin was 1.8 percentage points.

The Pirate Party was founded in 2006 with the aim of legalizing noncommercial file-sharing of music and films on the Internet.

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