The high court has ruled that BT must block its customers from accessing a filesharing website in a landmark piracy case brought to the courts by Hollywood studios.

Six movie studios, including Warner Bros, Fox and Disney, under the counsel of the Motion Picture Association won the case that will stop BT internet customers from accessing the website Newzbin2, despite the internet service provider claiming that such a move represents a new wave of online censorship.

The decision could be a watershed moment in the battle against online piracy, possibly setting a precedent for the future blocking of websites that allow internet users to illegally download copyrighted material.

Justice Arnold said: “In my judgment it follows that BT has actual knowledge of other persons using its service to infringe copyright: it knows that the users and operators of Newzbin2 infringe copyright on a large scale, and in particular infringe the copyrights of the studios in large numbers of their films and television programmes.

“[BT] knows that the users of Newzbin2 include BT subscribers, and it knows those users use its service to receive infringing copies of copyright works made available to them by Newzbin2.”

But the blocking is unlikely to have a major effect on the illegal distribution of copyrighted material, according to the Internet Service Providers’ Association. “Concerns about over-blocking, ease of circumvention and increased encryption are widely recognised, which means that blocking is not a silver bullet to stopping online copyright infringement,” it said in a statement.

The movie studios alleged that the Newzbin2 operation received more than £1 million a year from its 700,000 users.

The Register‘s Andrew Orlowski said the decision “runs contrary to the classic liberal spirit of English law”.

He added: “It makes rights-holders look like they’re keener on legislation than on creating new markets for content. Despite a smashing victory, they should be careful what they wish for.”

(Sources: MediaGuardian, The Register)

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