Stockholm  - A Swedish prosecutor Monday called for one-year jail terms against four men accused of operating a popular website which violates copyright laws by allegedly allowing illegal file sharing.

According to the prosecution, the Pirate Bay website netted the four defendants at least 10 million kronor (1.1 million dollars) in one year alone.

Defendants Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundstrom all deny the charges. The defence was on Tuesday scheduled to present its arguments.

Lawyer Monique Wadsted, who represented several Hollywood studios, concluded the proceedings Monday calling for "tougher punishments" saying the website operated on a large scale.

The film companies want some 93 million kronor in damages, based on the number of times films and television series were illegally downloaded by site users.

The four were "accessories" in violating copyright laws, prosecutor Hakan Roswall earlier said in his closing statement.

The Pirate Bay site was "a very well planned operation," Roswall added, saying the defendants had carefully divided tasks between themselves and operated almost commercially.

Earlier in the trial, which opened last month, he said sales of advertisements on the website generated some 1.2 million kronor.

Music and film companies, as well as computer game producers, have demanded some 117 million kronor in compensation, citing the number of downloads, loss of sales and licence income, and goodwill damages.

Lawyer Peter Danowsky, representing the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and several record labels, said their 15-million-kronor claim was "just a fraction" of the losses.

The sum would serve as "a key legal remedy" against copyright law infringement, he said.

Lawyer Henrik Ponten, representing several movie companies, said a conviction would deter illegal file sharing, citing the effects of previous cases.

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.

The website has long angered music and movie companies. Of the 33 alleged cases of copyright infringement against it, 20 were related to music and nine to films, including Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Evidence against the four includes e-mails, data traffic lists, interviews with the suspects and information from IFPI and the Anti- Piracy Agency formed by Swedish film and computer game producers and distributors. dpa