A federal judge in New York has ordered dozens of global domains owned by the Chinese company Fengtao Software to be seized, for its social media accounts to be blocked, and for payment processors to cut off their services to the company.

As TorrentFreak reports, this is the result of legal action by the decryption licensing body AACS, founded by companies such as Microsoft and Walt Disney. Last year AACS won a preliminary injunction against Fengtao Software, which sells the popular DVD-ripping software DVDFab. Initially, Fengtao failed to respond to the court, which caused the injunction to be granted by default. Later, the Chinese company asked for the decision to be reviewed, arguing that the order was too broad because it affected the company globally, while the relevant copyright law applied by the judge was US-specific.

But the judge confirmed (PDF) that he wanted Fengtao to cease using dozens of domain names around the world—adding many new ones to those specified in the preliminary injunction—as well as several associated social networking accounts, ordering that "Defendants shall not conduct or participate in any of the Circumventing Activities through any website, social media or social networking site or service, or other online service or platform, or through any offline means."

The judge extended his order to "main name registries, including but not limited to VeriSign, Inc., NeuStar, Inc., Public Interest Registry, Japan Registry Service Co., Ltd. (JPRS), DENIC Verwaltungs- und Betriebsgesellschaft eG (DENIC), China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) and/or the individual registrars holding or listing one or more of the DVDFab Domain Names, and who receive actual notice of this Order, shall, within three (3) days of receipt of this Order, temporarily disable such domain name."

As that makes clear, the judge seems to be attempting to compel registries in Japan, Germany, and China to disable the domain names used by Fengtao. It's not clear how he hopes to enforce that ruling: even if domain registrars in Japan and Germany are willing to implement the order, it's hard to see one in China helping a US judge shut down a Chinese company.