The High Court has granted an application brought by the Publishers Association (PA) requiring the UK’s main Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block access to a collection of websites that allow access to pirated books and journals.
The order, granted under section 97A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, applies to websites that host and provide access to substantial amounts of infringing content.
Website blocking as a remedy for tackling piracy was first deployed by publishers collectively in 2015. The court can be asked to order intermediaries to intervene to prevent access to websites which infringe copyright.
This order is the first of its kind for UK publishing, because it also targets “copycat” domains that trade off existing pirate brands.
It means that within 10 working days of notification, BT, Virgin Media, Sky, TalkTalk, EE and Plusnet will be required to block customer access to the sites.
The order will continue the blocking of sites first blocked in 2015 (AvaxHome, Ebookee, FreeBookSpot, FreshWap, LibGen, Bookfi and BookRe), as well as extending to “copycat” domains, sites linked to the original targets and a number of newly added domains and networks including Library Genesis, Z-Library and Anna’s Archive.
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