London High Court orders ISPs to block access to sites selling counterfeits

In a landmark ruling by the London High Court, the UK's five largest ISPs have been provisionally ordered to block access to six websites selling counterfeit goods, PC Pro reported.

The claimants, Richemont International, Montblanc-Simplo and Cartier International, referred to collectively as "Richemont" - had sought an injunction against Virgin, BT, EE, BSkyB and TalkTalk in an attempt to block access to the offending websites.

According to Richemont the ISPs had several other options besides requiring the websites to be blocked, such as issuing takedown notices or asking search engines to delist them.

A case of the type was being brought for the first time before the High Court of England and Wales. The case revolved around infringement of trademark had been brought.

Earlier rulings, such as the blocking of the Pirate Bay, had all been made under section 97A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, under which the High Court had specific powers to issue injunctions in cases of copyright infringement online.

The fact that an equivalent provision relating to trademark infringement did not exist raised the question whether or not the court actually had jurisdiction to issue an injunction.

The case was filed last month by Richemont, owner of several of the world's leading luxury goods firms including Cartier, IWC and Montblanc, securingindustry.com reported.

According to Richemont's legal representative Wiggin LLP, the court concluded that ISPs played "an essential role" and that the court "can and should apply Article 11 of the Enforcement Directive to require the application of technical measures to impede infringement of trademarks."

According to the legal firm's statement, the court considered various enforcement measures that are available to trademark owners when tackling infringement online.

According to judge Richard Arnold, the case was one of the first of its kind and could serve as a test case to prompt other actions by brand owners in Europe.

Wiggin had also brought the first successful action against ISPs - known as the Newzbin case, under which it was possible to force them to block file-sharing sites encouraging downloading of copyrighted digital content.
 
Consequently, the UK now had a highly-efficient process for copyright holders to get file-sharing sites shut down, and the latest judgment indicated that a similarly streamlined option would be available to rights holders affected by online trademark infringements.