Following several years of legal wrangling with Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music, Nordisk Film, and the Swedish Film Industry, The Pirate Bay has now been officially blocked by Swedish ISP Bredbandsbolaget. The ISP has vowed, however, to fight further blocking action against similar torrent sites such as Rarbg, Kickass Torrents, 1337X, Torrentz2, and ExtraTorrent.

Court Rules ISP Must Block The Pirate Bay

The ISP blocking follows a recent Swedish appeals court ruling requiring the blocking of over 100 separate domains, most of which are purportedly associated with The Pirate Bay, including a long list of proxy sites. The case began in 2014, when Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music, Nordisk Film, and the Swedish Film Industry moved to force broadband provider Bredbandsbolaget to block The Pirate Bay, along with streaming portal Swefilmer. They argued that if the ISP refused to do so, it should then be held liable for any damages incurred due to copyright infringing material shared on the sites.

Bredbandsbolaget argued that it was not in the business of policing content distributed via its services and was only responsible for providing the broadband service. Although it was expected to lose the case in line with several other previous similar EU case decisions, the ISP surprisingly emerged victorious in Stockholm District Court, which held that merely providing access to The Pirate Bay was not a crime.

The industry consortium appealed, however, and this time the result was different, as the Swedish Patent and Market Court of Appeal overturned the decision and ordered Bredbandsbolaget to block its customers from a list of allegedly Pirate Bay-associated domains for three years.

ISP Will Fight Future Blocking Orders vs Sites Such As Rarbg, Kickass Torrents, 1337X, Torrentz2, and ExtraTorrent

While the blocking measure was implemented today against The Pirate Bay and numerous proxies, Bredbandsbolaget has vowed to fight against any future blocking orders against similar sites such as Rarbg, Kickass Torrents, 1337X, Torrentz2, and ExtraTorrent.

"We are now forced to contest any future blocking demands. It is the only way for us and other Internet operators to ensure that private players should not have the last word regarding the content that should be accessible on the Internet," said the ISP in a statement, conceding that any future orders against similar websites such as Rarbg, Kickass Torrents, 1337X, Torrentz2, and ExtraTorrent are unlikely to be fought successfully given the precedent just set by the court.

The practical implications of the blocking are unclear, however. Additional proxies that are not on the list or are created subsequent to the ruling are not currently covered, meaning that while the decision makes it more difficult to access The Pirate Bay, it is still possible via alternative domains or the use of a VPN.

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