Foxtel has launched new court action seeking to stem Internet piracy.
The pay TV provider on Thursday filed a new application for injunction that seeks to force Internet service providers to block a number of piracy-linked websites.
Foxtel was one of the first companies to take advantage of changes in Australian copyright law that allow copyright holders and licensees to apply for Federal Court injunctions that compel ISPs to implement blocking measures — so far, generally DNS-based — to hinder attempts by their subscribers to visit sites named in the injunction.
The first application for injunction by Foxtel targeted the subscribers of TPG, Telstra and Optus and the site-blocking injunction, granted in December, listed The Pirate Bay, Torrentz, TorrentHound and IsoHunt.
That application was heard concurrently with one lodged by Village Roadshow. Roadshow’s application called for the same group of ISPs, as well as M2, to block streaming site Solar Movie.
Last month a Federal Court judge imposed a separate injunction based on an application by a group representing Australian music labels. That application, which affected TPG, Telstra, Optus and the broadband arm of Foxtel, was focussed on Kickass Torrents.
Currently before the court is a second application lodged by Roadshow targeting 41 sites.
On Friday, Foxtel’s spokesperson said he was not in a position to reveal details of the sites targeted but Computerworld has applied for access to the relevant court documents.
However, it can be confirmed that the ISPs listed in the application for injunction include TPG, Telstra, Optus, Vocus and the companies’ subsidiaries, including brands such as iiNet and Internode (in total, 49 companies are listed as respondents).
“Piracy remains a significant threat to our creative industries and jeopardises the livelihoods of the tens of thousands of people who work hard to bring great entertainment to legitimate users of our content,” the Foxtel spokesperson told Computerworld.
“We’ve seen successful use of site blocking overseas and have taken steps to repeat that success in Australia by applying for site-blocking action against a group of sites that facilitate copyright theft.”
“We look forward to continuing this effort in order to protect the country’s content industry and prevent any further spread of illegal content piracy,” the spokesperson said.