French websites have been ordered by a court to block the notorious file-sharing website The Pirate Bay

A French court has ordered the country's main Internet service providers to block notorious file-sharing website The Pirate Bay, according to a ruling published Friday on digital news website Numerama.

The anti-piracy ruling orders Orange, Bouygues Telecom, Free and SFR to block access to the site—thepiratebay.se—from France as well as around 20 mirror websites and 50 proxy servers that allow users not to be traced.

The big four have 15 days to block access to all these sites.

The Pirate Bay is one of the world's foremost file-sharing and download sites and has been found guilty of copyright violations and blocked in several countries such as Britain and Ireland.

Founded in 2003, the site makes it possible to skirt copyright fees and share music, film and other files using peer-to-peer links offered on the site.

The site's Swedish co-founders have all been sentenced to various jail terms and ordered to pay a fine of 46 million kronor (five million euros, $6.1 million) for copyright infringement.

This judicial action has dealt a symbolic blow to a global community of online sharers, which the movie and music industry decries as systemic theft that costs billions in lost revenue each year.

© 2014 AFP