SYDNEY: An Australian court on Friday ordered internet providers to block more than 40 piracy websites after a successful case by leading film distributors, in a major ruling on online content sharing.

Australia is one of the world’s top illegal downloaders of shows such as “Game of Thrones”, and studios have launched legal action in recent years to block international websites offering access to such content.

Under the Federal Court ruling, telecommunication providers including the country’s two biggest — Telstra and Optus — would have to 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 judgment. Nicholas’s judgement followed his ruling in December that ordered the blocking of high-profile online file-sharing websites Pirate Bay, Torrentz, and IsoHunt. Local pirates 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.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2017