Despite court cases in the Netherlands and the U.K. forcing ISPs to place blocks on their systems to prevent customer access to The Pirate Bay, the blocks may ultimately prove futile, according to data seen by the BBC and others.

One major U.K. broadband provider said peer-to-peer traffic on its network returned to "just below normal" only a week after it was forced to block customers' access.

But in the days following the court decision in late April, traffic had reached record levels as a result of the increased media coverage. This backs up earlier claims that The Pirate Bay had a 12 million views traffic boost on May 1, thanks to the "free advertising" by the media.

The ISP -- speaking to the BBC anonymously -- said that traffic dropped by more than 11 percent following the enforcement of the block, but with the rise of proxy sites and The Pirate Bay's own server IP changes, traffic figures were "pretty much back to where they were before."

The figures are not detailed, however. The data relates to volume rather than strict user figures, possibly suggesting that prolific file-sharers downloaded more than less-interested users were discouraged. Also, the data may not relate directly to The Pirate Bay, as peer-to-peer traffic could include legitimate downloads, such as the downloading of Linux distributions, so it is difficult to see whether The Pirate Bay has returned to usual levels of traffic.

Meanwhile in the Netherlands, where blocks were put in place following similar legal challenges, Dutch ISP XS4All said its customers' traffic to The Pirate Bay went up rather than down. Two more ISPs, according to TorrentFreak, suggested the blocks imposed did not adversely affect peer-to-peer traffic.

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) had brought the case to the High Court in London. BPI Chief Executive Geoff Taylor told the BBC it will continue to pursue legal action against "illegal sites" that are "ripping off" the artists.

He said the BPI's goal is to "reduce U.K. use of The Pirate Bay" and said the site's rankings had dropped from the top 50 to 282.

Alexa rankingscurrently put thepiratebay.se at 83 overall in global rankings, but 301 in the United Kingdom.

However, the U.K.'s Pirate Party Web site, which hosts one of the most popular Pirate Bay proxies, rocketed to a rank of 359 in the United Kingdom, suggesting a massive uptake in use on the block circumventing service.

Despite the court-ordered blocks, circumventing the restrictions through proxies and tunneling is not illegal under U.K. law. U.K. Pirate Party leader Loz Kaye recently wrote in The Guardian: "This proxy continues to be a legitimate route for those affected by the court orders."