Australia's Federal Court has issued an injunction which requires local Internet providers to block 181 pirate domains linked to 78 'sites'. The injunction targets more sites than ever, including several dedicated to subtitles. According to the movie companies who applied for the order, subtitle sites infringe the copyrights of screenplays.
Copyright holders are increasingly demanding that ISPs should block access to pirate sites in order to protect their business.
This is also the case in Australia, where blocking injunctions were made possible three years ago following amendments to copyright law.
In recent years various copyright holders have requested blockades against torrent sites, streaming services, and direct download portals, with relative ease. And these efforts are not slowing down, on the contrary.
This week the Federal Court has issued the largest pirate site blocking injunction thus far in Australia, judging by the number of targeted sites. The case in question was filed by Village Roadshow, Disney, Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount, Columbia, Universal, Warner, and others, targeting 78 pirate ‘locations.’
The list of targets includes IPTorrents, BT-Scene, Fmovies, Putlocker, RuTracker, KissAnime, NYAA, Torrentday, YIFY-movies and various others. In total, the injunction lists 181 domain names.
Interestingly, the court order also targets several subtitle sites. The injunction lists OpenSubtitles, YifySubtitles, and SubScene, for example. While these sites don’t host or link to infringing videos, the movie companies argued that the sites are “communicating to the public a literary work,” referencing the screenplay.
Alternatively, it was argued that subtitle files could also be a “substantial reproduction” of the original subtitles, Computerworld previously reported. However, this argument was dropped after Justice Nicholas pointed out it would require proof that a subtitle was directly copied.
The screenplay argument did hold up it seems, as the subtitle sites are listed in the final injunction.
The list of ISPs that are required to implement the blockades includes Telstra, Optus, Vocus, TPG, Vodafone, and several subsidiaries. The blocking measures have to be implemented within 15 days, through DNS blocking, IP-address blocking, or any other means agreed with the rightsholder
“Each Respondent must, within 15 business days of service of these Orders, take reasonable steps to disable access to the Target Online Locations,” the injunction reads, listing the blocking options.
This order will remain valid for a period of three years. If required, the rightsholders can then apply for an extension. The movie companies must also pay ISPs to implement the blocking measures but, at the rate of $50 per domain name, that’s not going to be a problem.
With 78 targeted sites, this is the largest piracy blocking injunction issued by an Australian court. However, next year even broader injunctions may follow, after a series of controversial amendments to copyright law were passed last month.
These amendments make it possible to remove blocked sites from search engines, block mirrors and proxies more effectively, while targeting ‘dual-use’ cyberlocker type sites.
The full list of targeted locations is as follow. A copy of the injunction, obtained by TorrentFreak. can be found here (pdf).
2ddl; 8maple.ru; 9anime.is; Addic7ed; Anilinkz; Animefreak; Animeshow; Avxhm; azmaple.com; Bilutv; Bt-scene; Cartooncrazy; Cmovieshd; Ddlvalley; DailyTVFix; Dnvod; dramacity.io; dramahk.me; Fmovies.io; Glodls; Gogoanime; Hdpopcorns; hindilinks4u.to; hkfree.co; icdrama.se; icdramase; ilovehks.com; IPTorrents; Kantv; Kimcartoon; Kissanime; kisscartoon.ac; m4ufree.com; Masterani.me; Myanimeseries; Nyaa; Nzbplanet; Ondarewatch; Openloadmovies; Opensubtitles.org; Otakustream; Phimbathu; Putlocker.ac; Putlockerhd.co; qooxi.net; Rmz; Rutracker.org; Scnsrc; Seasonvar; Seriesfree; Solarmoviez; Soul-anime; streamtvb.com; Subscene; Subsmovies; Torrentday; Torrentfunk; Torrentmovies; Tvbox; Tw116; Two-movies; Ultra-vid; Usabit; VexMovies; viewasian.tv; Vkool; Vmovee; Watchanimeonline.me; Watchcartoononline.com; Watchcartoononline.io; Watchonlinemovies; Watchseries-online; woaikanxi.cc; Yify-movies; Yifysubtitles; Ymovies.tv; Zimuzu; Zooqle.
