First Steps Down the Plank: New Australian Copyright Provisions Successfully Used to Block Pirate Sites 

December, 2016 - John Fairbairn

On 15 December 2016, Foxtel and a number of movie studios secured the first site blocking orders in Australia. The orders of Nicholas J of the Federal Court require the major Australian ISPs to block access to a number of infamous sources of illegal content, namely, The Pirate Bay, TorrentHound, IsoHunt, Torrentz and SolarMovie (Pirate Sites).

In separate applications brought in February this year by Foxtel and various movie studios, the parties tested the new section 115A of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth).  Their success is an important step towards combatting online piracy.  It also has the potential to better educate Internet users on the illegality of these sites and encourage them to access copyrighted content through legitimate means.

Click here to read the key aspects of the judgment.

 

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