Stockholm - Four men were convicted Friday by a Swedish district court of operating a website which allows illegal file sharing, and sentenced to year-long jail terms.

The Stockholm district court also ruled that the four should pay damages of some 30 million kronor (3.6 million dollars) for violating copyright infringements by allowing the Pirate Bay website to be used to swap films and music.

The prosecutor had called for one-year jail terms in his closing statement in March, but had wanted the four to pay 117 million kronor in damages.

Prior to the ruling, the four defendants Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundstrom had said they planned to appeal.

Pirate Bay's backers had said it was a not-for-profit group that did not store copyrighted material, but only offered a search engine for users who exchange music, films and computer games.

The ruling said the organization was commercial and organized.