Soon after The Pirate Bay trial ended in a guilty verdict, the site admins objected to alleged "bias" in district judge Tomas Norstr�m. Turns out that Norstr�m was a member of two different copyright organizations, one of which received some of its money from global music trade group IFPI. A court of appeals agreed to look into the matter, even assigning the review to a different section of judges that usually does not deal with copyright questions to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest.

As part of the appeal, the Stockholm District Court has now weighed in, defending its judge, according to newspaper Svenska Dagbladet (read an English summary).

Norstr�m, it says, wasn't biased at all, but simply a member of organizations in which he learned more about copyright and kept abreast of new developments. It certainly was not Norstr�m's only way of keeping up to date on copyright, and such professional memberships should not be used as evidence of bias.

Norstr�m belongs to the Swedish Copyright Association along with Henrik Pont�n, Peter Danowsky, and Monique Wadsted—all lawyers who represented the recording industry in the Pirate Bay trial. Norstr�m also sits on the board of the Swedish Association for the Protection of Industrial Property, an advocacy group that pushes stricter copyright laws.

The appeals court will rule on the issue of judicial bias soon, but either way, the case will continue. If Norstr�m is found to be biased, the case will likely have to be retried; if not, the Pirate Bay defendants have already signaled their desire to appeal the verdict.

As they wrote soon after the trial concluded, "We have to remember that this will not be the final decision, only the first before the losing party will appeal. It will have no real effect on anything besides setting the tone for the debate, so we hope we win of course."

Movie and music rightsholders have already filed their own appeal. In addition to seeking more cash (the 30 million kronor damage award was far too low, they say), lawyers for the content owners want the charge of "infringing copyright" restored against the defendants. During the trial, this charge was dropped and "contributory copyright infringement" was the charge under which The Pirate Bay admins were found guilty.

All of which leaves one thing perfectly clear: The Pirate Bay's legal battle will continue, probably for years.