Copyright law is a civil matter, not a criminal one. Uploading or downloading copyrighted materials without permission is NOT a crime. However, you may face lawsuits for breach of copyright and pay damages. Certain places do have criminal charges for copyright violations, but that depends on the region and is confined purely to large-scale commercial pirating (like the stuff you buy from street vendors) not getting stuff from the internet.
The pirate bay case is completely different. All the pirate bay does is point links to places where you can download material. They do not actually infringe on anybodies copyrights. They are being charged with "making available" copyrighted materials , which is a bogus charge that is not a crime in Sweden. Only after the Swedish justice minister is involved with American recordings interests did the only charade start. The minister involved should be charged with corruption for putting America business interests over Swedish law.
Copyright today is nothing but a corrupt power grab by business, primarily fostered by Disney (as well as Sony, Universal, Time Warner and other content producers). Copyright was included in the constitution
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.
In Thomas Jefferson's day, that meant 20 years. Today it is the entire life of the author PLUS 75 more years. Simply put, corporations bought our government to violate the constitution to get a monopoly. There is no way such a long copyright "promotes the arts". The original purpose of copyright was to provide a way for authors to get money, so they could make a living writing books. This would allow our society to produce more literature and music. Today, that entire system is perverted. Artists don't produce more music because they know they can profit from 1 song their entire lives. Corporations are even worse, as they can profit from artists long dead.
Finally, copyright is not a property right, it something that violates property rights. It not only provides a government granted monopoly, but it provides restrictions on what citizens can do with their own private property.
Personally, I think copyright is beneficial to society and should exist, but needs to be severely restricted in scope and duration.