Pirate Bay foundering under heavy fire

File-sharing site The Pirate Bay suffered further setbacks this week, after Italian lawyers reportedly announced plans to sue the site's owners, and a court in the Netherlands ruled that the site must block all access for Dutch users within 10 days.

Lawyers from the Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana and the Federation against Musical Piracy are reported to be seeking over €1m (AU$1.7 million) in damages from Pirate Bay founders Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij and Gottfrid Svartholm Warg.

The news comes just days after 13 film studios, led by Disney, Universal and Columbia, said they will launch legal action in the Swedish courts aimed at closing the site down for good.

The Pirate Bay founders were fined $3.6m (£2.2m) in the Swedish courts in April after losing an earlier lawsuit brought by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, and were sentenced to a year in prison.

The site was then due to be acquired by internet company Global Gaming Foundry for US$7.8m (AU$9.3m), but new reports suggest that the deal may be about to fall through.