Hollywood wins U.K. piracy battle

LONDON -- The Hollywood studios have won a landmark legal victory in the U.K. against online pirates. Blighty's top telco BT has been ordered by Hon. Justice Arnold in the Royal Courts of Justice in London to shut down access to file-sharing website Newzbin2, which he deemed guilty of copyright infringements. BT, which is the U.K.'s biggest Internet service provider with 6 million customers, has 14 days to comply with the order. Wednesday's judgment confirmed a ruling made by the same judge on July 28. The case, which was brought by 20th Century Fox, Universal, Warner Bros., Paramount, Disney and Columbia Pictures, is the first of its kind in Blighty. It creates a precedent, which will allow the studios to move against similar sites. The film biz reacted with overwhelming praise for the court's decision. David Puttnam, prexy of the Film Distributors' Assn., said: "This is a very significant day for the U.K.'s creative industries. The law is clear. Industrial online piracy is illegal and can be stopped." Chris Marcich, prexy and m.d. for Europe, Middle East and Africa for the Motion Picture Assn., said: "This is a win for the creative sector. Securing the intervention of the ISPs was the only way to put the commercial pirates out of reach for the majority of consumers. This move means that we can invest more in our own digital offerings delivering higher quality and more variety of products to the consumer." BT will be liable for all costs associated with the action, and has also been instructed to block any new website that Newzbin2 sets up. Contact Leo Barraclough at leo.barraclough@variety.com