With the passing of the latest deadline to buy The Pirate Bay, the deal with prospective buyer Global Gaming Factory (GGF) now looks as dim as a Swedish winter day. Not that this a new position for GGF to find itself in; skepticism has dogged the deal ever since it was announced back in June. GGF says it has a plan to make the site legitimate and to start compensating rightsholders, but the likelihood that the plan will ever be tried appears tiny.

And even if it had gone (or does go) through, a reminder of just how irregular it all is: GGF wants to buy The Pirate Bay site from a mysterious company called Reservella, based in the Seychelles islands. Reservella has no known contact information, no website, and the company that helped it register in the Seychelles refuses to provide any contact information. The Pirate Bay's current admins claim to Ars that they don't even know who's behind the company. That's odd enough, but they also tell Ars that Reservella acquired the company from another unnamed company, who took it over in 2006 after the Swedish government seized some Pirate Bay servers. In addition, major copyright holders are trying to shut down the site and won a court victory against the admins earlier this year.

As weird as everything associated with The Pirate Bay turns out to be, the GGF saga may be the strangest bit of the whole business. For those with better things to do than follow each twist and turn of the case (and really, just about anything would count as a "better thing to do"), we present this handy bullet point list of this summer's shenanigans.



June 30: Global Gaming Factory X AB announces plan to purchase both The Pirate Bay and P2P developer Peerialism, which will provide the new technology to make the site into a legal service. The Pirate Bay purchase price is SKr60 million. Pirate Bay admins put up with terrific criticism from the masses who thought they would "fight the Man" indefinitely.

Global Gaming Factory X AB announces plan to purchase both The Pirate Bay and P2P developer Peerialism, which will provide the new technology to make the site into a legal service. The Pirate Bay purchase price is SKr60 million. Pirate Bay admins put up with terrific criticism from the masses who thought they would "fight the Man" indefinitely. Late July: One of the key media advisors to GGF, former Grokster president Wayne Rosso, walks away from the company and publicly expresses skepticism that the funding is in place and that the deal will go through. He specifically calls Pandeya's credibility into question.

One of the key media advisors to GGF, former Grokster president Wayne Rosso, walks away from the company and publicly expresses skepticism that the funding is in place and that the deal will go through. He specifically calls Pandeya's credibility into question. August 25: GGF CEO Hans Pandeya authors an odd manifesto (PDF) on file-sharing that ends with the assertion, "We want to pay."

GGF CEO Hans Pandeya authors an odd manifesto (PDF) on file-sharing that ends with the assertion, "We want to pay." August 27: GGF holds an "extraordinary general meeting" with shareholders and approves The Pirate Bay acquisition. On the same day, Swedish stock exchange AktieTorget announced that GGF was being referred to the exchange's disciplinary committee to see if it should be permanently delisted. CEO Hans Pandeya says that he will cover the deal with shares of his own stock if investors don't appear, but the AktieTorget announcement casts doubt on the feasibility of the scheme.

GGF holds an "extraordinary general meeting" with shareholders and approves The Pirate Bay acquisition. On the same day, Swedish stock exchange AktieTorget announced that GGF was being referred to the exchange's disciplinary committee to see if it should be permanently delisted. CEO Hans Pandeya says that he will cover the deal with shares of his own stock if investors don't appear, but the AktieTorget announcement casts doubt on the feasibility of the scheme. Early September: The Swedish government seizes Pandeya's car, motorcycle, and eventually his boat to cover an unpaid tax bill of around SKr780,000.

The Swedish government seizes Pandeya's car, motorcycle, and eventually his boat to cover an unpaid tax bill of around SKr780,000. September 9: GGF is booted from AktieTorget because it never provided necessary information to shareholders (such as where all this money is supposedly coming from). Pandeya continues to insist the deal will go through in the next few weeks.

GGF is booted from AktieTorget because it never provided necessary information to shareholders (such as where all this money is supposedly coming from). Pandeya continues to insist the deal will go through in the next few weeks. September 16: GGF moves to a new Swedish stock exchange, Mangold Fondkommission.

GGF moves to a new Swedish stock exchange, Mangold Fondkommission. September 25: Pandeya's former business associate Johan Sellstrom convinces a Swedish court that Pandeya owes him around $400,000, and the state moves to seize Pandeya's assets.

Pandeya's former business associate Johan Sellstrom convinces a Swedish court that Pandeya owes him around $400,000, and the state moves to seize Pandeya's assets. September 30: The new deadline for closing the deal passes without comment.

The new deadline for closing the deal passes without comment. October 1: Peerialism says that its own deal with GGF has been called off; what's more, Peerialism hadn't expected the deal to go through for months. Adding insult to injury, the Swedish government seizes two apartments linked to Pandeya in order to provide more collateral for his debts.

Sure, it could still happen, but the odds of the deal closing now look about as likely as the odds of finding sharks in that water on the moon.

Still, there was some good news for The Pirate Bay this week (the admins, at least, who have absolutely no connection to the mysterious Reservella): a Swedish court has removed one of the lay judges who was to sit on the upcoming appeal. The lay judge works for Spotify, the Swedish streaming music service that has generated terrific buzz around the world but is also part owned by the major labels.