Hollywood studios win landmark victory against Popcorn Time

Hollywood has won a landmark victory in the United Kingdom against Popcorn Time, a popular app for illegally downloading movies that has been nicknamed the “Netflix for pirates”. The Motion Picture Association, a trade body that represents the six major Hollywood studios, won a High Court order requiring that the UK’s biggest internet service providers block access to four sites linked to Popcorn Time. This is the first time anywhere in the world that Popcorn Time sites, which receive several million visitors each month, have been targeted and ordered to be blocked.

Hollywood has worried about Popcorn Time ever since it was launched just over a year ago, providing internet users with an easy way to watch films and TV programmes for free. What has caused particular concern is that Popcorn Time has opened the illegal filesharing underground to casual users. It has a similar kind of attractive design and easy-to-use interface as legitimate services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. But behind its glossy interface, the application relies on BitTorrent, the peer-to-peer filesharing protocol that has long been used by illegal sites such as The Pirate Bay. The High Court’s order requires that the UK’s five major internet providers -- BT, EE, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media -- must block their users from assessing four sites that provide the Popcorn Time app: popcorntime.io; flixtor.me; popcorn-time.se; and isoplex.isohunt.to.