Website banned from linking to film downloads

 

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By Hani Megerisi

Posted on 30 Mar 2010 at 11:11

A website that directs people to copyrighted content has lost a case against six of the biggest Hollywood studios.

Newzbin, which publishes links to copyrighted material posted on Usenet, was served with a court injunction that prevents it from directing users to material owned by the six studios.

The six claimants - Twentieth Century Fox, Universal, Warner Bros, Paramount, Disney and Columbia – are all members of the Motion Picture Association (MPA), which works to protect the interests of film and television companies around the world.

This is an important decision and it sends a clear message that websites focusing on providing viewers with pirated film and TV programmes infringe copyright and are liable for their actions even where those websites don't themselves host the content

“Newzbin is a source of immense damage to the creative sector in the UK and worldwide,” Ted Shapiro, general counsel for Europe of the MPA, said in a statement. “This is an important decision and it sends a clear message that websites focusing on providing viewers with pirated film and TV programmes infringe copyright and are liable for their actions even where those websites don't themselves host the content.

“This decision will help to support the continued investment in new legal online services and the creation of new films and television shows for enjoyment by audiences both in the UK and around the world.”

Newzbin was regarded as a "sophisticated" and "substantial" system by the claimants, with a turnover of more than £1 million last year and approximately 700,000 members signed up to its private forums.

A second injunction sought by the studios to prevent the site indexing all copyrighted content on Usenet was denied by the judge. “I do not believe it would be appropriate to grant an injunction of the breadth sought by the claimants for a number of reasons,” Justice Kitchin said in his judgment at the hearing in London.

Landmark ruling?

This is the first case of copyright holders seeking an injunction under a section of the UK patent and copyright law, which gives the courts the power to “grant an injunction against a service provider” if it's aware its service is being used to infringe copyright. "In the digital environment, in particular, the services of intermediaries may increasingly be used by third parties for infringing activities,” Kitchin said in his judgement.

He said because of this, copyright holders should be allowed to apply for injunctions against intermediaries, as well as those directly infringing copyright.

"The line in the law has been drawn," Kim Walker, an IP expert at international law firm Pinsent Masons, told PC Pro. "It's confirmed what ISPs and lawyers thought but weren't sure on. Now it [the law] has been clarified."

He added that this will "certainly apply to other Newzbins", and provide legal precedent for copyright holders to go after similar services in the future.

File-sharing has risen to become a major part of the Government's Digital Economy Bill, with opponents such as the Pirate Party calling for greater freedoms to share copyrighted material. The MPA claims that piracy deprived the film industry of 20% of its revenues each year.