Two founders of The Pirate Bay have been ordered by a court in Finland to pay record labels more than $477,000 in compensation. Fredrik Neij and Gottfrid Svartholm were found liable for ongoing copyright breaches on the site. Neither appeared to mount a defense so both were found guilty in their absence.

In November 2011, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), with support from Finnish anti-piracy group Copyright Information and Anti-Piracy Center (CIAPC), filed a lawsuit in the Helsinki District Court against The Pirate Bay.

IFPI, which represents the world’s major labels, demanded that the site’s operators stop facilitating the unauthorized distribution of music and pay compensation to IFPI and CIAPC-affiliated rightsholders for the damages caused through their website.

Progress in the case has been somewhat glacial but this morning, almost six years after the complaint was first filed, a decision was handed down.

Fredrik Neij and Gottfrid Svartholm, two founder members of the site, were ordered by the District Court to cease-and-desist the illegal operations of The Pirate Bay. They were also ordered to jointly and severally pay compensation to IFPI record labels to the tune of 405,000 euros ($477,000).

The Court was reportedly unable to contact Neij (aka TiAMO) or Svartholm (aka Anakata) in connection with the case. With no response received from the defendants by the deadline, the Court heard the case in their absence, handing a default judgment to the plaintiffs.

Last year a similar verdict was handed down by the Helsinki District Court to Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde.

Sony Music Entertainment Finland, Universal Music, Warner Music, and EMI Finland sued Sunde claiming that the music of 60 of their artists has been shared illegally through The Pirate Bay.

Sunde was also found liable in his absence and ordered to pay the major labels around 350,000 euros ($412,000) in damages and 55,000 euros ($65,000) in costs. He later announced plans to sue the labels for defamation.

“I’m a public person in Finland and they’re calling me a criminal when they KNOW I’m not involved in what they’re suing me for,” Sunde told TorrentFreak at the time. “It’s defamation.”

Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm, and Peter Sunde all owe large sums of money to copyright holders following decisions relating to The Pirate Bay dating back at least eight years. In all cases, the plaintiffs have recovered nothing so the latest judgment only seems likely to add to the growing list of unpaid bills.

Meanwhile, The Pirate Bay sails on, seemingly oblivious to the news.