Photo Credit: La So
The IFPI has taken successful action against CloudFlare in representation of its member companies in Italy.
Sony Music Entertainment Italy s.p.a., Universal Music Entertainment Italy s.r.l., Warner Music Italia s.r.l. were represented by the IFPI and the Italian anti-piracy group, FPM. Due to petitions from the IFPI and the FPM, the Court of Milan has issued an interim injunction ordering CloudFlare to stop providing its services for three copyright-infringing BitTorrent sites that Italy’s regulator, AGCOM, ordered blocked online.
“CloudFlare’s services were making it possible for users to access copyright infringing websites which were ordered to be blocked by the Italian regulator AGCOM,” says Frances Moore, CEO, IFPI.
“These sites divert revenues away from licensed music services and ultimately those investing in and creating music. By ordering CloudFlare to stop providing access to these sites, the Court of Milan has made an important ruling that we believe sends a clear message to other online intermediaries that they too may be subject to action if their services are used for music piracy.”
CloudFlare has 30 days to comply with the technical measures to stop users from accessing the sites via its public DNS service. Failure to prevent access to these sites will result in a daily fine. CloudFlare is also required to block any future domains from these sites.
The IFPI is the voice of the recording industry worldwide, representing over 8,000 record company members across the globe. “We welcome the Court’s decision which will further strengthen the ongoing infringing site blocking programme performed by AGCOM in Italy, whilst also increasing the efficiency of the enforcement actions carried out by the rightsholders to protect their online content.”
An Italian court found in 2019 that stream ripping is illegal as a result of a case against Yout.com. Italian telecoms regulator ACGOM required ISPs in the country to block Yout.com for allowing access to illegally convert and download .mp3s.