Set to start in just a few days time, the trial of The Pirate Bay will be one of the most important cases the file-sharing community has ever witnessed. However, due to restrictions, the number of people viewing it first hand could be very limited indeed. "Time to make demands," says Peter Sunde.

On February 16th 2009, one of the biggest trials in P2P history begins. The case of the largest BitTorrent tracker, The Pirate Bay, will be followed by millions around the world.

The Pirate Bay team have been preparing for the media battle, in part by designating their tour bus as the site’s official media center. But already there are complaints about how accessible the trial will be to the public, with TiAMO and Brokep demanding changes to how it will be made available. In true Pirate Bay style, they want everyone to have access, one way or another.

According to Pirate Bay co-founder Fredrik Neij (aka TiAMO) the case will be heard in room 9 of Stockholm’s District Court. This room has space for maximum 35-40 people to view the case. At least 20 of these seats will be reserved for the press and, you can bet, these will be taken up by the mainstream press, many of which are unsympathetic to the site’s cause, a point not lost on Peter Sunde, aka Brokep.

“Traditional media is 90% owned by the opposition in this case and that is something that really must be taken into account,” he notes.

The court will provide another area which will have the trial’s audio fed in. “There will be a room where you can hear the sound from the trial,” says TiAMO, “this room can hold 20-25 people,” but the space allocated just isn’t enough.

“So this does not work,” says TiAMO. “I want a request for real premises immediately so they have time to fix the problem.” He’s very unhappy at the space allocated, noting that the case is one of the biggest political cases in recent times and since there are four people on trial, there isn’t even enough space for their family members to be present.

“I NEED a room for at least 150 people, 20 reserved for the family and 80 to 100 reserved for the press and public. It need not be in the same room, but we need several rooms REQUIRING video too, not just sound,” he demands.

Brokep says that in addition to the seats held back for the traditional press, he is set to demand that the court reserves seats for bloggers too.

As the discussions continue over the proposals do a live webcast of the court case of a Boston University student versus the RIAA, Brokep wants similar for the Pirate Bay. They want the case transmitted live on the web.

“We want to show how it works. Cards on the table, everything should be transparent!”

And why not?