We at Split Infinity Radio don't condone piracy and other related naughtiness and shenanigans, but it seems Pirate Bay has been purchased and is looking to go all legal and respectable. Software company Global Gaming Factory X AB has reportedly bought the site for a cool US$7.8 million.

This acquisition looks to be the first step towards transforming the Stockholm-based peer-to-peer server which has made video games, movies and music available for "sharing" among users for many years.

Pirate Bay was in the news lately after a raid by Swedish police and a high profile court case which resulted in a guilty verdict for its founders.

Times are a changing though for the site as Hans Pandeya, CEO of Sweden's Global Gaming Factory has said "We would like to introduce models which entail that content providers and copyright owners get paid for content that is downloaded via the site." Which at least suggests it may become a paid service for I'm assuming will be paid for by the site's users.

Currently, and especially after the recent controversies and coverage surrounding the site, Pirate Bay is said to be in the top 100 most visited sites on the internet, and according to Pandeya it needs to change. "In order to live on, The Pirate Bay requires a new business model, which satisfies the requirements and needs of all parties, content providers, broadband operators, end users, and the judiciary," he said, adding that "content creators and providers need to control their content and get paid for it." What's more, Pandeya adds, file sharers need "faster downloads and better quality."

Global Gaming Factory X AB will actually acquire The Pirate Bay this August but according to a statement from The Pirate Bay, "If the new owners will screw around with the site, nobody will keep using it. That's the biggest insurance one can have that the site will be run in the way that we all want to."

Pirates going legitemate? And the say strange things happen at sea...