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The Pirate Bay won't be blocked on its home turf

Sweden is one of the few countries in Europe that won't make internet providers block The Pirate Bay.

Numerous countries order their internet service providers block The Pirate Bay, but its home country of Sweden won't be one of them... at least, for now. A Stockholm court has ruled that Sweden can't make ISPs block the piracy site, since those companies aren't responsible for what their customers do. The networks aren't participating in any crimes, according to the ruling -- they're just the delivery medium.

The music and movie studios that pushed for the ban are likely to appeal the decision, and it's safe to say that Swedish police aren't happy. The Pirate Bay isn't out of the woods yet, then. However, this is still a rare win for a site that regularly finds itself on blacklists, especially in Europe. Copyright holders may have a good case against the Bay, but it's clear that they can't always use ISP-level restrictions to get what they want.

[Image credit: Getty Images]