U.K. Royal Courts of Justice And A Landmark Decision

The UK high Court has made a first of its kind ruling in determining that internet service providers must crack down on websites selling fake goods. Five of the U.K.’s ISP providers, BT, EE, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin, which amounts to 95 percent of broadband users in the country, were ordered to “block or at least impede access to” six ‘Target Websites’ known to advertise or sell cheap replicas of luxury goods.

The ruling, which is the first time ISPs within the EU have been issued a website-blocking order relating to trademark infringement, was brought by Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA, the luxury goods holding company based in Switzerland whose wholly-owned subsidiaries include Alfred Dunhill Limited, Cartier and Chloe.

“This case represents a positive step in the fight to protect brands and customers from the sale of counterfeit goods online,” Elizabeth Snow, a U.K. spokeswoman for Richemont, said in an e-mail.

Following the ruling, Justice Richard Arnold said that this was a test case but could be the first of many cases in which European companies make applications to block sites selling replicas. The judge concluded that it was in the public interest to curtail the distribution of counterfeit and pirated goods, which is thought to be a $960 billion a year industry, according to a 2011 report by Frontier Economics Ltd.

An Open Rights Group lawyer, David Allen Green, criticized the ruling stating that it could negatively affect internet users. The group, which lobbies to protect digital freedoms, said they were pleased that the court had put in place safeguards to prevent future claimants deliberately abusing blocking orders and restricting free speech and legitimate internet use.

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