Hollywood studios on Thursday won a landmark legal battle against piracy when a British high court ordered BT to block access to Newzbin2, a website that provides links to illegal downloads of films, games and music.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), representing Hollywood studios like Universal, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Warner Bros and Disney, had dragged Internet Service Provider BT to court under the 1988, Copyright Design & Patent Act., seeking a ruling to force BT to block or at least impede access to Newzbin2.

Justice Arnold ruled that BT was aware that its service was being used by infringe copyright via Newbin2. He added that BT also had some knowledge about individual BT subscribers who used Newzbin2.

Pronouncing the judgment, Justice Arnold said, "In my judgment it follows that BT has actual knowledge of other persons using its service to infringe copyright: it knows that the users and operators of Newbin2 [sic] infringe copyright on a large scale.”

The MPAA welcomed the judgment, and described Newzbin2 as a 'pirate website'.

The ruling is expected to prompt other sectors of creative industries to seek ruling to force other internet service providers to block access to file-sharing websites.