Creative Content Australia reported that the Federal Court of Australia granted a site blocking order in the matter of Roadshow Films Pty Ltd & Ors v Telstra Ltd & Ors (NSD190/2025). The order targets 35 piracy platforms comprising 47 domain names, which at their peak drew more than 27 million monthly visits from over 2.6 million unique users and generated 117.4 million page views per month.
“The Target Online Locations offer large catalogues of infringing material, which reinforces the flagrancy of the infringement, or of the facilitation of the infringement,” said a court document. “Most of the Target Online Locations have directories, indexes or categories of motion pictures and television programs.”
The Court Justice issued the decision on July 9, 2025, finding that the identified online locations infringed or facilitated the infringement of copyright works owned by major content producers including Roadshow Films, Disney, Universal, Paramount, Netflix, and Apple, among others.
The court ordered Australia’s major internet service providers — including Telstra, Optus, TPG, Vodafone, Vocus, and Aussie Broadband — to take “reasonable steps” within 15 business days to block access to the piracy sites. Approved methods include DNS blocking, IP address blocking, and URL blocking.
The sites blocked under the GSS Wave 14 action include notorious piracy hubs such as HiAnime, HydraHD, Miruro, 123Movies, Soap2day, Aniwave, and Andyday. These sites offered vast catalogues of unauthorised films and TV shows, many displaying ads that financially benefited their operators.
Justice Younan concluded that the injunction was necessary and proportionate, stating that the sites had a “primary purpose and effect” of copyright infringement and that the volume and flagrancy of the breaches justified disabling access.
The orders will remain in effect for three years and provide mechanisms for adding new domain names or URLs if operators attempt to circumvent the blocks.
Further reading
Australian Federal Court orders block of 35 major piracy sites. Article. July 16, 2025. Creative Content Australia
Roadshow Films Pty Limited v Telstra Limited [2025] FCA 744. Court Order. July 9, 2025. Federal Court of Australia (Note: This item lists the infringing sites and their IP addresses)
From little things big things grow: Australia’s evolving site blocking regime. Article. November 4, 2020. by Cheryl Foong (Curtin University) and Joanne Gray (Queensland University of Technology)
Why it matters
This ruling continues a longstanding line of Federal Court actions supporting rights holders in curbing digital piracy in Australia under section 115A of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth).
A paper published in the Australian Business Law Review (linked above) contends that “Australia’s website blocking regime, introduced in 2015 and expanded in 2018, is a work-in-progress. The regime provides an avenue for rights-holders to seek injunctions requiring Internet service and search engine providers to block access to overseas websites that have the ‘primary effect’ or ‘primary purpose’ of infringing or facilitating the infringement of copyright…. It highlights the lack of transparency fostered by the current regime and recommends measures for addressing these flaws in the design of Australia’s copyright site blocking regime.”
