One of the web's largest search engines for downloads on file-sharing websites has been taken offline by the City of London police for linking to pirated content.

Torrentz.eu was already blocked in the UK by a number of British ISPs, having been blacklisted in October 2013 alongside 20 other file-sharing sites, but the side's domain name was removed entirely on Monday. By Tuesday, however, the site was back up following legal complaints from the owners.

The City of London police had contacted Torrentz's domain name registrar, and asked it to suspend the site for linking to content which infringes copyright.

A City of London Police spokesperson said, “The Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) has recently contacted a number of domain registrars hosting copyright infringing as part of Operation Creative, and as a result several major copyright infringing websites, including Torrentz.eu, have closed down."

However, the site is still live at other domain names. The force's request has no legal force, but many registrars follow such requests anyway. "At the first instance of a website being confirmed as providing copyright infringing content, the site owner is contacted by officers at PIPCU and offered the opportunity to engage with the police, to correct their behaviour and to begin to operate legitimately," the City of London police spokesperson said.

“If a website fails to comply and engage with the police, then a variety of other tactical options may be used including; contacting the domain registrar informing them of the criminality and seeking suspension of the site and disrupting advertising revenue through the use of an Infringing Website List (IWL) available to those involved in the sale and trading of digital advertising."



Torrentz is one of the largest search engines for bitorrent files. The site lets users search for content to download using the bitorrent file-sharing protocol. Typically, this is unlicensed copies of TV shows and movies such as Game of Thrones and the upcoming X Men: Days of Future Past, both linked to from one of the remaining versions of the Torrentz site.

But the site also contains legal content, such as installers for free open source software and books released under "copyleft" licenses, which pre-emptively grants permission for them to be shared.

A day after the initial suspention, TorrentFreak reported that the site's Polish host, registrar, apparently changed its mind about complying with the police request after Torrentz's lawyer contacted them to complain. The registrar hasn't officially responded, but has restored the domain.

In the Netherlands, a court lifted a ban on notorious file-sharing site The Pirate Bay in January, labelling the practice "ineffective". The ruling, which applied European law, was based on the principle that internet service providers should not have to take measures, such as blocking the Pirate Bay, which are disproportionate or ineffective.

• Pirate Bay ban lifted in Netherlands as blocking torrent sites ruled ‘ineffective’

Full City of London Police statement