The following clarification was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Monday 24 August 2009
The news story below suggested that Sweden's Pirate party is a registered political party in the United Kingdom. To clarify, the new party, Pirate Party UK, shares a philosophy, name, and some information with the Swedish party but is a separate entity legally and constitutionally. We said the party wants to legalise internet filesharing and abolish the patent system; in fact it aims to legalise filesharing where no profit is being made and to reform copyright and patent laws, not abolish them.
Sweden's Pirate party, created to lobby for more free content on the internet, is now an officially recognised political party in the UK. The Pirate party UK was added to the electoral register of political parties in the UK on 30 July. This means the group can now have Pirate party candidates standing at the next general election. The party wants to legalise internet filesharing, safeguard people's online privacy, and abolish the patent system. In June 2009 it won a seat in the European parliament after capturing 7.1% of the votes in Sweden.
