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ARTICLE · 18 MAY 2017

Kickass result for copyright owners: blocking orders for pirate website

DibbsBarker
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This was a win for copyright owners and exclusive licensees protecting rights from pirate websites outside Australia.

AustraliaIntellectual Property
Penelope Hobart (Formerly With DibbsBarker)
Penelope Hobart (Formerly With DibbsBarker)
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Services: Intellectual Property & Technology

The recent decision in Universal Music Australia Pty Limited v TPG Internet Pty Ltd [2017] FCA 435 (TPG Internet) heralds another win for copyright owners and exclusive licensees protecting their rights from pirate websites operating outside Australia.

On 28 April 2017, Burley J of the Federal Court of Australia found in favour of the applicants1 who took action against more than 30 respondents2 over a website known as 'KickassTorrents' (KAT). The KAT website used peer-to-peer file sharing platform BitTorrent to share data that included sound recordings owned by or exclusively licensed to the applicants.

TPG Internet was decided in the wake of the Roadshow Films Pty Ltd v Telstra Corporation Ltd [2016] FCA 1503 (Roadshow), in which the owners and exclusive licensees of copyright in films took similar action over the use of websites to share film content. Both cases revolved around s 115A of the Copyright

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