Hollywood studios win landmark victory against Popcorn Time

Hollywood has won a landmark victory in the UK against Popcorn Time, a popular app for illegally downloading movies that has been nicknamed the "Netflix for pirates".

The Motion Picture Association, a trade body that represents the six major Hollywood studios, on Tuesday won a High Court order requiring that the UK's biggest internet service providers block access to four sites linked to Popcorn Time.

This is the first time anywhere in the world that Popcorn Time sites, which receive several million visitors each month, have been targeted and ordered to be blocked.

Hollywood has worried about Popcorn Time ever since it was launched just over a year ago, providing internet users with an easy way to watch films and TV programmes for free.

What has caused particular concern is that Popcorn Time has opened the illegal filesharing underground to casual users.

It has a similar kind of attractive design and easy-to-use interface as legitimate services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. But behind its glossy interface, the application relies on BitTorrent, the peer-to-peer filesharing protocol that has long been used by illegal sites such as The Pirate Bay.

Stan McCoy, president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at the Motion Picture Association, said: "Popcorn Time has no legitimate purpose and it only serves to infringe copyright."

"The film and TV industry is comprised of hundreds of thousands of men and women working hard behind the scenes to bring the vibrant, creative stories we enjoy to the screen; content theft undermines that hard work."

The High Court's order requires that the UK's five major internet providers - BT, EE, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media - must block their users from assessing four sites that provide the Popcorn Time app: popcorntime.io; flixtor.me; popcorn-time.se; and isoplex.isohunt.to.

This legal process - provided for by Section 97a of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act - was first used by the MPA in 2011 and has subsequently been used by rights holders in the film, music and sports sectors to require UK ISPs to block access to illegal sites. A total of about 100 sites are now blocked under the act.

Research by Incopro, an intellectual property protection company, has found that ISP site blocks have had a significant impact on illegal sites. On average, sites in the UK lose 73 per cent of their usage following a site block and maintain those levels consistently over time.

Critics of site-blocking say it is ineffective because determined pirates can find their way to sites through virtual private networks or other methods that route their traffic via another country. Others argue blocking is dangerous because it could lead to censorship of the web.

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