The NSW Federal Court has ordered internet providers to block 50 piracy websites by Friday in a bid to stop Australians from illegally downloading popular TV shows.
The move followed a successful case by leading film distributors including Village Roadshow and Disney, and was considered a major ruling for online content sharing.
Australia is deemed one of the world’s worst illegal downloaders of shows such as Game of Thrones, and studios launched legal action to stop international websites offering access to illegally streaming content.
An Australian court ordered internet providers to block more than 40 piracy websites by on Friday (pictured: Putlocker)
Australia is deemed one of the world’s worst illegal downloaders of shows such as Game of Thrones (pictured)
Under the Federal Court ruling, telecommunication providers including the country’s two biggest, Telstra and Optus, must block sites such as EZTV, Demonoid, Limetorrents and Putlocker.
‘The infringement, or facilitation of infringement by the online locations, is flagrant and reflect a blatant disregard for the rights of copyright owners,’ Justice John Nicholas wrote in his judgement.
The judgement followed his ruling in December that ordered the blocking of high-profile online file-sharing websites Pirate Bay, Torrentz, and IsoHunt.
The case lead by top film distributors including Village Roadshow and Disney was considered a major ruling for online content sharing (pictured: The Walking Dead)
Local pirate websites have been targeted by Canberra, with the parliament in 2015 passing laws that allow copyright holders to ask courts to order blocks on overseas websites which illegally share content.
The latest case was led by film distributor Village Roadshow, backed by other studios including Disney, Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Universal and Warner Bros.
Village Roadshow’s co-executive chairman Graham Burke welcomed the ruling and added that ‘site-blocking has been very effectively implemented around the world and proven to reduce the theft of screen content’.
The studios launched legal action to stop international websites offering access to illegally streaming content (pictured: The Lego Movie)
‘The thieves who run pirate sites contribute nothing to Australia — they employ no-one and pay no taxes here. Of the enormous profits they earn, not one cent goes back to the original creators of the content.’
Illegal downloads cost the entertainment industry billions of dollars in revenue.
Consumer advocates have said blocking websites which host file-sharing links was shown to be ineffective, as users could dodge restrictions through the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) and other means.