With pirate sites frequently evading court orders by switching names or website domains, the U.K. is moving to make it easier to make blocking orders stick.

Pirate operators have been using APIs to register domains in bulk, evading site blocks by simply rotating them, using the same infrastructure, content libraries and functionality.

Until now, UK Section 97A Copyright Act orders required rights holders to identify individual domains for blocking, with a subsequent 2022 ruling allowing action against mirror sites and related pirate brands.

However, operators often hide behind fictitious or stolen identities and fail to comply with cease-and-desist letters; meanwhile, hosting servers are often untraceable, shielded by anonymization techniques or by being located in countries where legal enforcement is extremely difficult.

Now, though, the Motion Picture Association has said it's successfully persuaded the U.K. High Court to streamline the process for blocking access to proven piracy services through the use of an "omnibus" order.

This will allow rights holders to "seek blocking of any “structurally infringing audiovisual piracy services that meet defined criteria, without having to bring a fresh court application for each new domain or site name available in the future".

The order will last for six months, but can be extended under certain conditions.

“This order, built on a years-long track record of safe, responsible, and effective prior orders affirms that judicial site blocking is a vital tool to protect creators and consumers from piracy-related harms while also supporting a well-functioning internet and defending democratic values,” said Karyn Temple, senior executive vice president and global general counsel for the Motion Picture Association.

“We welcome the High Court’s recognition that effective enforcement must adapt to the threats posed by piracy operators, as enforcement frameworks need to be flexible and efficient enough to respond to the evolving piracy landscape. The decision reflects a balanced, evidence-based, and proportionate approach that supports faster, more scalable action against piracy while maintaining appropriate safeguards.”

The decision comes as part of an as-yet-unpublished High Court judgment in Columbia Pictures and others v British Telecommunications and others, filed in late 2025.

More than 60 countries currently have legal systems that allow for administrative and/or judicial site blocking procedures. And, said the MPA, analysis of the effectiveness of these site blocking orders obtained between 2024 and 2025 shows that blocking by traditional ISPs brings an average reduction in visits to targeted piracy websites of 89%.

In countries such as Italy, France, Brazil, South Korea and India, the average reduction in visits after site blocking topped 90% in 2024.

However, the MPA has warned that the advent of agentic AI could make it even easier for pirate operators to evade site blocks in future.