Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde is firing back at several major record labels, demanding compensation for damaging his name. Sunde is preparing a lawsuit against the music labels, who were recently awarded damages for his involvement with the notorious pirate site.

Last week the local branches of Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music, Warner Music and EMI won a default judgment against Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde.

The Helsinki District Court ordered Sunde to pay $395,000 (350,000 euros) for music shared illegally through the site by its users.

In addition, he faces an additional one million euro fine if the infringements continue in the future, even though he has no control over the site.

The ruling came as a shock to the former Pirate Bay spokesman. Not just because he didn’t share anything himself, but also because he hasn’t been involved with the torrent site for a decade.

Sunde informs TorrentFreak that he wasn’t aware of the Finnish case until after the verdict was handed down, which suggests that he wasn’t served properly. However, he certainly doesn’t plan to let things go. On the contrary, he’s hitting back with a lawsuit of his own, accusing the record labels of defamation

“I’ve decided I’m going to sue them for damage against my good name and stealing a lot of time from me,” Sunde tells TorrentFreak.

“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. It’s defamation.”

Turning the tables, Pirate Bay’s co-founder is demanding compensation from the labels instead. Standing idly by is no longer an option and Sunde believes that he has a strong case which will hold up in court.

“It’s getting very obvious the case will be won by me and it’s time to hit them back. Attacking has always been my best defense and I’m going to demand what I’m owed finally.”

With the lawsuit Sunde hopes to put an end to the continued allegations against his person by various entertainment industry outlets. The Finnish case is the first but it’s possible that more defamation suits will follow elsewhere.

Sunde’s lawyer Peter Herkko Hietanen informs TorrentFreak that the default judgment of last week can also be appealed within 30 days, after which a retrial may follow.

After serving a prison sentence for the copyright infringements of others, Sunde has regained his focus with various other projects over the past year.

In addition to several art projects he continues his work for Flattr, as well as various speaking gigs and media projects.

With regard to The Pirate Bay’s current operation the site’s co-founder has been very clear in recent years. Like several others who were involved during the early days, he believes that the site has served its purpose and should have been shut down a long time ago.