Stockholm- Defence lawyers in Stockholm on Tuesday rejected calls for year-long jail terms and damages against four men accused of operating a website which allows illegal file sharing.

In what is seen as a test case in Sweden, the four defendants are accused of violating copyright infringements by allowing the site to be used to swap films and music.

But lawyer Per Samuelson said the Pirate Bay website was one of thousands of file-sharing services that could be used for both legal or illegal means.

"The charges were really brought against the operation, not the defendants," Samuelson said.

Of the 33 alleged cases of copyright infringement, including nine films, Samuelson said "we don't know when the crimes took place, where in the world, or the motive" those persons who uploaded or downloaded the material had.

Another defence lawyer Jonas Nilsson said the prosecution - which on Monday called for a one-year jail term for each of the four defendants - had failed to link the accused to specific crimes.

"It is an open site where users upload material and decide what should be there. The users determine everything," Nilsson said.

The defence also rejected the claim for damages, totalling over 100 million kronor (11 million dollars) presented by music and film companies, and computer game producers, against defendants Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundstrom.

The assessments were based on the number of downloads, loss of sales and licence income, and goodwill damages, lawyers representing the companies maintained Monday.

The prosecutor had said the four were "accessories" in violating copyright laws, adding the site was "a very well planned operation."

The trial opened last month. The website was temporarily shut down in June 2006 after a police raid, but returned to operation from an unknown location a few days later.

Its backers 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.

Evidence against the four includes e-mails, data traffic lists, interviews with the suspects and information from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and the Anti- Piracy Agency formed by Swedish film and computer game producers and distributors. (dpa)