French Court Orders Google, Yahoo, And Microsoft To Make It Almost Impossible To Search For Pirate Sites
The lawsuit - which dates back to 2011 - was brought by several film trade groups including one that represents Sony, Paramount, and more than 100 other companies.
The three search engines have been told to put in place "all appropriate measures to prevent access... by any effective means, including by blocking domain names" to the sites. Those sites include the websites Allostreaming, Fifostreaming, and Dpstream.
The court ruled that those sites and more than a dozen others involved in the suit were "entirely or nearly entirely dedicated to copying audiovisual productions without the consent of their authors," France 24 reported.
This is the first time that a court has required search engines to de-list piracy sites, according to the trade groups that filed the suit. The groups called it "a crucial step towards respecting the law on the Internet," according to France 24.