bassethound
28-07-11, 16:01
The high court has today supported a landmark case brought by the Motion Picture Association requiring BT to block access to a website accused of online piracy, in a move welcomed by the creative industries.
Justice Arnold handed down his judgement this morning, backing the MPA's claim that BT must prevent access to the Newzbin2 site, which the MPA says is host to hundreds of links to illicit copies of movies and music. The verdict effectively stops the site from using BT's internet service to make money through copyrighted material.
In his ruling, 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 Newbin2 infringe copyright on a large scale, and in particular infringe the copyrights of the Studios in large numbers of their films and television programmes, it 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."
The case represents the first time in Britain that an attempt to force internet service providers to cut off access to websites under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act has been heard in court.
Around 700,000 members use the Newzbin service, generating over £1 million a year for the website's operators, according to the MPA. Films currently available for download from the site's movies section include recent releases, such as Disney's Tangled and the Warner Bros remake of Arthur, starring Russell Brand.
However, Mr White - who represents Newszbin but would not disclose his real identity - yesterday told BBC News that Newzbin2 would attempt to "ensure continuity of service to our UK users" even if the judge ruled against it.
Tangled
He said that keeping the site up may involve attempts to break BT's Cleanfeed filter, which the ISP uses to block access to websites featuring child sex abuse.
"Our users don't wish Cleanfeed to work and based on a preliminary technical assessment we think it will be trivially breakable," said Mr White.
"We have the sand, and if needed we will pour it in Cleanfeed's engine oil."
In response, BT said: "We would be appalled if any group were to try to sabotage this technology as it helps to protect the innocent from highly offensive and illegal content."
The creative industries have welcomed today's verdict in the high court, particularly as it could pave the way for other content owners to force ISPs to tackle websites suspected of piracy.
Chris Marcich, the president and managing director (EMEA) of the MPA, said: "This ruling from Justice Arnold is a victory for millions of people working in the UK creative industries and demonstrates that the law of the land must apply online.
"This court action was never an attack on ISPs but we do need their cooperation to deal with the Newzbin site which continually tries to evade the law and judicial sanction. Newzbin is a notorious pirate website which makes hundreds of thousands of copyrighted products available without permission and with no regard for the law."
A still from the movie 'The King's Speech'
Momentous Pictures vice president of business and legal affairs Spyro Markesinis said: "Without licensing revenues, films simply cannot be funded or produced. If that means a film like The King's Speech may not be made in the future, the public, as well as those people whose livelihoods depend on film, will lose out.
"So we applaud the decision and look forward to working with the ISPs and the government to keep the pressure up on the pirates and help safeguard the future of the industry."
John McVay, the chief executive of independent production trade body PACT, added: "We are very happy with the outcome - it is clear that good sense has prevailed on this issue.
"Pact has said for a long time that websites which pirate content should not be allowed to trade as this undermines the ability of legitimate businesses to recoup their considerable investment. We now need some clear action to ensure that this judgement acts as a real deterrent to pirates."
This is not the first time the film industry has tried to shut down Newzbin, as last year the high court ordered the site to remove all of its pirated material and pay damages to the studios.
Newzbin Ltd, the company behind the site, went into administration after the ruling, but a clone site called Newzbin2 subsequently appeared, operating anonymously out of Sweden.
Justice Arnold handed down his judgement this morning, backing the MPA's claim that BT must prevent access to the Newzbin2 site, which the MPA says is host to hundreds of links to illicit copies of movies and music. The verdict effectively stops the site from using BT's internet service to make money through copyrighted material.
In his ruling, 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 Newbin2 infringe copyright on a large scale, and in particular infringe the copyrights of the Studios in large numbers of their films and television programmes, it 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."
The case represents the first time in Britain that an attempt to force internet service providers to cut off access to websites under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act has been heard in court.
Around 700,000 members use the Newzbin service, generating over £1 million a year for the website's operators, according to the MPA. Films currently available for download from the site's movies section include recent releases, such as Disney's Tangled and the Warner Bros remake of Arthur, starring Russell Brand.
However, Mr White - who represents Newszbin but would not disclose his real identity - yesterday told BBC News that Newzbin2 would attempt to "ensure continuity of service to our UK users" even if the judge ruled against it.
Tangled
He said that keeping the site up may involve attempts to break BT's Cleanfeed filter, which the ISP uses to block access to websites featuring child sex abuse.
"Our users don't wish Cleanfeed to work and based on a preliminary technical assessment we think it will be trivially breakable," said Mr White.
"We have the sand, and if needed we will pour it in Cleanfeed's engine oil."
In response, BT said: "We would be appalled if any group were to try to sabotage this technology as it helps to protect the innocent from highly offensive and illegal content."
The creative industries have welcomed today's verdict in the high court, particularly as it could pave the way for other content owners to force ISPs to tackle websites suspected of piracy.
Chris Marcich, the president and managing director (EMEA) of the MPA, said: "This ruling from Justice Arnold is a victory for millions of people working in the UK creative industries and demonstrates that the law of the land must apply online.
"This court action was never an attack on ISPs but we do need their cooperation to deal with the Newzbin site which continually tries to evade the law and judicial sanction. Newzbin is a notorious pirate website which makes hundreds of thousands of copyrighted products available without permission and with no regard for the law."
A still from the movie 'The King's Speech'
Momentous Pictures vice president of business and legal affairs Spyro Markesinis said: "Without licensing revenues, films simply cannot be funded or produced. If that means a film like The King's Speech may not be made in the future, the public, as well as those people whose livelihoods depend on film, will lose out.
"So we applaud the decision and look forward to working with the ISPs and the government to keep the pressure up on the pirates and help safeguard the future of the industry."
John McVay, the chief executive of independent production trade body PACT, added: "We are very happy with the outcome - it is clear that good sense has prevailed on this issue.
"Pact has said for a long time that websites which pirate content should not be allowed to trade as this undermines the ability of legitimate businesses to recoup their considerable investment. We now need some clear action to ensure that this judgement acts as a real deterrent to pirates."
This is not the first time the film industry has tried to shut down Newzbin, as last year the high court ordered the site to remove all of its pirated material and pay damages to the studios.
Newzbin Ltd, the company behind the site, went into administration after the ruling, but a clone site called Newzbin2 subsequently appeared, operating anonymously out of Sweden.