Last week the High Court added four big streaming sites to the UK’s unofficial ban list. Six major internet service providers (ISPs) have now been ordered to block access to Megashare, Viooz, Watch32 and Zmovie, all of which have millions of regular visitors.
BT, Sky, Virgin Media, O2, EE and TalkTalk are now required to block the sites, through which users can stream Hollywood blockbusters directly, or via links to third-party sites such as Vidspace or Videohub. Viooz is the largest of the quartet and is listed among the 500 most visited sites in the UK.
The ruling comes after Hollywood studios filed a complaint that remained uncontested by the ISPs. Because the ISPs have stopped defending their position in court, it is now a mere formality for copyright holders to have a pirate site banned.
Represented by the UK’s Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) and the Motion Picture Association of America, several major film studios decided to take action after their inquiries to the owners of the sites remained unanswered.
The court order, which has yet to be made public, is believed to be similar to the orders against Firstrow, Solarmovie and Tubeplus, which were handed down last year.
In that verdict the Court clarified that even when a website uses external “hosts” for the infringing content, the linking sites could still be guilty of making content available.
Virgin Media has confirmed that they received the court order, which they will implement in the near future, and the new Megashare, Viooz, Watch32 and Zmovie blockades are expected to go into effect this month.
However, whether the present blocks will be more than a drop in the ocean has yet to be seen. There are many other streaming portals that are still available, which means that the film studios will probably be back in court later this year.