High Court Orders BT to Block its Customers from Accessing an Unlawful File Sharing Site: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp v British Telecommunications Plc

摘要

In the first decision of its kind in the United Kingdom, the High Court has held in Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp v British Telecommunications Plc~1 that an internet service provider (ISP), in this case BT, must block its customers from accessing an unlawful file sharing site (http://www.newzbin.comj. The claim was brought by a number of well-known film and TV studios on the basis that, under s.97A Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA), BT had "actual knowledge" of its customers using its service to infringe copyright (in this case the copyright in films and television programmes).