ONLINE PIRACY


THE


BLOCK BUSTERS


Despite several courts ordering ISPs to block access to sites suspected of promoting online piracy, it’s not hard for users to get around the barriers. TB&I asks where to next for rights owners?


“Tey’re easy to implement but they’re very easy to circumvent: there are hundreds of ways around them,” explains Trefor Davies of


the


systems that block access to file-sharing websites, oſten seen as the enemy of copyright owners. As a council member at the UK’s Internet Service Providers Association, Davies knows how easy it is for infringers to beat the protective systems.


In the past four years, courts across Europe have forced Internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to sites accused of aiding online piracy. In a ruling in July 2011—believed to be the first of its kind in the UK—the High Court ordered the country’s largest ISP, BT, to block Newzbin2, which indexed files that were posted on an Internet forum.


While this was a relatively recent development, rights owners have waged their battle against the notorious Te Pirate Bay for much longer. Courts in both Italy and Denmark ordered ISPs to block the file-sharing site in 2008, and following appeals, the blocks were in place by 2010. In January 2012 a


www.worldipreview.com Trademarks Brands and the Internet Volume 1, Issue 3 15


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