Creative Industries ask BT to block The Pirate Bay
4th November 2011
BT has been asked to block access to the world’s largest illegal BitTorrent website The Pirate Bay, it was announced today.
Building on the Newzbin2 precedent, music industry trade body the BPI, supported by the UK creative industries, has written to BT to ask it to block The Pirate Bay voluntarily. If BT will not agree to block voluntarily, then it has been asked to consent to a court order.
The Pirate Bay is the world’s largest BitTorrent site, enabling and encouraging the mass illegal distribution of copyrighted content including music, movies, TV programmes, games and publications. It is run on a commercial scale, paying no royalties to any of the creators or companies whose content it exploits without permission. The operators of the website have been sentenced to prison terms in Sweden for their criminal activities.
The move follows the landmark High Court order on 14th October 2011 requiring BT to block access to the pirate website Newzbin2. The Newzbin2 ruling was the first case in the UK to use section 97A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to require ISPs to block access to infringing websites.
Since 2009, a number of ISPs in other European countries – including Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Belgium and Sweden - have been ordered to implement blocking measures against The Pirate Bay.
John Smith, General Secretary of the Musicians’ Union and Deputy Chair of the Creative Coalition Campaign, a partnership between trade unions representing workers in the creative industries and organisations in the music, film, TV, publishing and sports sectors, said: “Now that the High Court has clarified the law, as a sector we need to keep up the pressure on these illegal sites. For too long The Pirate Bay has been allowed to attack the livelihoods of individual artists and session musicians. We hope that BT will voluntarily block this prolific, illegal site.”
Richard Mollet, Chief Executive Officer, The Publishers Association, said: “It is crucial that the creative sector keeps up the momentum of getting internet companies to do their bit in tackling illegal sites. The law is clear: The Pirate Bay is illegal, it can and should be stopped.”
Geoff Taylor, BPI Chief Executive, said: “The Pirate Bay is no more than a huge scam on the global creative sector. It defrauds musicians and other creators of their wages, and it destroys UK jobs. Unlike legal music download sites, it exposes consumers to the risk of viruses, theft of personal information and inappropriate content. “We would not tolerate Counterfeits “R” Us on the High Street – if we want economic growth, we cannot accept illegal rip-off sites on the internet either. We hope that BT will do the right thing and block The Pirate Bay.”
John McVay, Chief Executive, PACT which represents independent film, television, digital, children's and animation media companies said: “It beggars belief that a website as clearly infringing as The Pirate Bay is allowed to go unblocked in the UK. This one site alone is doing enormous damage to the livelihoods of thousands of businesses in the creative sector and action against it in the UK is welcomed.”
Chris Marcich, President and Managing Director (EMEA), the Motion Picture Association said: “The whole of the creative sector will benefit from illegal sites being blocked. It will result in consumers having access to a wider variety of legal digital servicers.”
Notes
The test case was brought against BT to invoke Section 97A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act to secure direct action by BT to block the pirate website Newzbin2 which distributes content without permission on a commercial basis. The judgment records that this is a proportionate measure and reflects a clear recognition that the court must act to prevent illegal activity in the internet environment.
“…I am satisfied that the order sought by the Studios is a proportionate one. It is necessary and appropriate to protect the Article 1 First Protocol rights of the Studios and other copyright owners. Those interests clearly outweigh the Article 10 rights of the users of Newzbin2, and even more clearly outweigh the Article 10 rights of the operators of Newzbin2. They also outweigh BT’s own Article 10 rights to the extent that they are engaged. The order is a narrow and targeted one, and it contains safeguards in the event of any change of circumstances. The cost of implementation to BT would be modest and proportionate.” [Judgment para 200]