Austria’s major Internet service providers were expected to block the largest BitTorrent tracker in the world and other infringing websites a few days ago. However, the deadlines passed without action from the ISPs, and now the entertainment groups are going to sue the largest broadband providers in the country in order to force them to cooperate. In response, ISPs claim they are ready for the legal fight. Let’s see what is going on in Europe.

After both the European Court of Justice and the local Supreme Court had delivered favorable rulings on Internet filtering, a number of Austrian film companies were eager to see infringing sites blocked at the ISP level. So, the local anti-piracy association of the entertainment industry sent requests to a number of local broadband providers – UPC, Drei, Tele2 and A1 to block three domains – ThePirateBay, Movie4K and Kinox. The requests, sent to 5 local broadband providers, set a deadline of less than two weeks for the ISPs to block subscriber access to a number of “pirate” portals.

The anti-piracy group and the ISPs negotiated the details, but the deadline expired with no moves from the providers. The courts confirmed that sometimes service providers can be required to block errant websites, but it looks like the ISPs didn’t want to take action following the requests from copyright owners. The broadband providers claimed that the decision to block websites should lie with the courts. Although the ISPs claimed they fully support the creative industries, they didn’t have any obligation or right to choose which content is accessed by their subscribers.

This is why almost all ISPs have required a court order to restrict access to any portals, and Austria was no exception. Industry experts admit that it was always unlikely that the broadband providers would act without being legally required to do so. The ISPs are ready for legal action.

In response, movie industry promised to launch a lawsuit concerning blocking against kinox.to and movie4k.to against 4 largest Austrian ISPs. It was said that the lawsuits are prepared and are waiting almost only on their delivery. On the other hand, the music industry claimed it won’t be far behind. Since the deadline was missed without any response from the broadband providers, the music groups had their attorneys begin the preparations for legal action.

Industry observers point out that those web-blocking cases being brought against Austrian Internet service providers are of particular importance for the industry, because they represent the first to take place following the March 27 ruling of the European Court of Justice. In the meantime, the copyright owners across the continent will closely watch how that ruling is interpreted.