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13 March 2014Copyright

UK High Court wields axe on four more ‘pirate’ websites

The UK High Court has ordered the country’s major Internet Service Providers to block access to four websites alleged to be hosting copyright infringing material.

Falling under the axe are Megashare, Viooz, Watch32 and Zmovie, which are all movie streaming websites.

The order will demand that BT, Sky, Virgin Media, O2, EE and TalkTalk cut off access.

According to the Torrentfreak website, Viooz is the largest of the quartet and is among the 500 most visited sites in the UK.

Through the sites, users can stream Hollywood movies directly or access them via third party sites.

A judgment is not available yet but none of the sites was working when WIPR checked the web addresses.

The Motion Picture Association (MPA) and FACT, a pro-copyright group, are believed to be behind the lawsuit, the latest in a string of recent blocking orders against websites deemed to be offering pirated material.

"The growth of the legal online market is held back by illegitimate sites," a spokesman for the MPA told WIPR.

"We want an internet that works for everyone, where the creative property of artists and creators is protected along with the privacy and security of all users.”

Most ISPs comply with court orders when ordered to block a website.

Adam Rendle, associate at Taylor Wessing LLP in London, said courts [in England] look at whether infringement on the particular service would be reduced and not infringement as a whole.

“Injunctions are also an important part of the anti-piracy PR campaign – what could be a more authoritative piece of publicity than a ruling that these sites infringe copyright and on a massive scale?

“I understand that piracy is falling in the UK. This may be a result of increased availability, quality and take-up of licensed services but it must also be because it is more difficult to access,” Rendle added.

Gareth Dickson, associate at Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP, said there was a “growing familiarity” with the issues involved, as well as the knowledge that they are “not fool-proof.”

“They can be circumvented by consumers, websites can move, and perfectly legitimate websites can be unintentionally blocked as well,” Dickson said.

In August, WIPR reported that the English Premier League’s successful case against sport-streaming website FirstRow Sports had resulted in numerous other websites, including the television listing website Radio Times, also being blocked.

FirstRow’s IP address happened to be shared by several other sites.

Dickson added: “In the UK, most ISPs do not resist these applications.  As a result, the boundaries of the legal tests have not been fully explored.”

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