The Federal Court of Austalia has ruled in favor of eleven media companies, against nearly fifty Australian telecommunications companies, ordering them to block more than 100 infringing Web sites in Australia including proxy sites of Pirate Bay and other infringing streaming and download sites.
Read the Judgment: Roadshow Films Pty Limited v Telstra Corporation Limited [2020] FCA 1468 by the Federal Court of Australia.
The judgment document details the techniques used by pirates to distribute stolen content, evade detection and takedown, and to advertise infringing content to consumers. One example is the use of ‘reverse proxy’ services to help hide infringing sites. The document also lists the many sites that were subject to takedown; some of which are known worldwide.
Why it matters
This represents the successful use of the Australian “notice and takedown” system, which is similar to the DMCA’s system in the United States.
Village Roadshow, a leading Australian media company that was the first listed applicant in the injunction, has pressed the Australian legal system for stronger countermeasures against infringing sites for years.
Australia’s first successful pirate take-down occurred in 2016.
