The High Court has granted an order sought by eight film and television companies against eight internet service providers, after finding that the providers’ networks were being used to infringe copyright.
In an ex-tempore judgment delivered on 15 January 2018, Mr Justice McGovern said he was satisfied that the proposed order would prevent access to unlawful material, or at least make it more difficult to access, and would discourage users from doing so.
The judge also accepted that the order would not impose an unreasonable burden on the providers or prevent users from lawfully accessing copyrighted material online. He said there was a significant public interest in preventing copyright infringement, which he said harms creative artists’ ability to benefit from their work and affects their livelihoods and businesses that distribute their material.
The plaintiffs were Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Universal City Studios Productions LLLP, Universal Cable Productions, LLC, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Paramount Pictures Corporation, Disney Enterprises, Inc., Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. and Sony Pictures Television Inc.
The defendants were Eircom Limited trading as Eir, Digiweb Limited, Imagine Telecommunications Limited, Sky Subscribers Services Limited, Virgin Media Ireland Limited, Vodafone Ireland Limited, Magnet Networks Limited, Three Ireland (Hutchison) Limited and Three Ireland Services (Hutchison) Limited.
The court made the order under section 40(5)(a) of the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000, as amended, in the terms of the draft order and draft protocol presented to it. The judgment does not set out the specific measures contained in those documents.