The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has targeted The Pirate Bay. In a letter to the Swedish government that was obtained by a Swedish television news network and published on the Web, MPAA Chairman John Malcolm wrote that although The Pirate Bay was reported to the police in Stockholm and G'teborg in 2004 and 2005, nothing came out of it. Malcolm also mentioned letters written from the U.S. embassy in Stockholm to the Swedish government requesting that action be taken.

The Swedish government has been trying to step up its battle against copyright infringement. The National Police Board and the Prosecutor's Office have been instructed by the government to investigate how to prevent copyright infringement on the Internet, and recently presented their proposals.

However, Eliasson and Roswell denied that the Cabinet pressed for action against The Pirate Bay. Such a move would have been potentially scandalous, since the Swedish constitution prohibits cabinet ministers and officials from instructing government agencies on how to act in specific cases.

"It was very clearly stated that I was absolutely not to interpret the information given to me as in any way instructing me on what to do, or not to do, Roswall said, according to Rapport.