Background
Film and audiovisual copyright owners had obtained orders in 2020 requiring Australian carriage service providers to take reasonable steps to disable access to specified overseas online locations. The original orders were made under s 115A of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) after the Court found that the target sites infringed, or facilitated infringement of, the applicants’ copyrights and had that as their primary purpose or effect.
The orders, due to expire on 29 September 2026, included procedures for adding new domain names, URLs and IP addresses that provided access to already-blocked locations, and for extending the orders. The applicants sought a five-year extension and filed a variation notice identifying new IP addresses for existing target locations. No respondent objected.
The Court’s Holding
Justice Cheeseman extended the site-blocking orders for five years from 29 September 2026, replaced the schedule of target online locations and access details, and made no costs order.
The Court held that the applicants’ certifications showed that the relevant locations and access means had not permanently ceased their infringing purpose or effect. The unopposed variation notice validly engaged the existing Order 13 procedure: it did not add new target locations, but required the respondents to apply the existing blocking obligation to new IP addresses through which those locations could be accessed. No further order was needed for that step.
A five-year extension was appropriate given the continued justification for the injunctions, the cost and burden of repeated renewal applications, and safeguards allowing obsolete blocks to be lifted or the orders to be varied or discharged.
Key Takeaways
- Section 115A blocking orders can be extended where evidence shows target sites continue to infringe or facilitate infringement.
- An existing variation mechanism can extend blocking to new access addresses for the same target site without adding a new target location.
- A five-year term was justified by renewal costs and continuing safeguards against unnecessary blocking.
Why It Matters
The decision confirms the practical durability of Australian copyright site-blocking injunctions. Rights holders may maintain protection against persistent infringement while using agreed procedures to respond to changing technical access points.
For carriage service providers and site operators, the ruling also underscores that a longer injunction period remains subject to mechanisms for objections, lifting blocks that are no longer justified, and applications to vary or discharge the orders.