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The frontline of online piracy liability keeps moving, and core internet infrastructure providers are increasingly finding themselves in the crosshairs. <\/p>\nThe frontline of online piracy liability keeps moving, and core internet infrastructure providers are increasingly finding themselves in the crosshairs. <\/p>\n
In a significant ruling last week, the Paris Judicial Tribunal ordered Cloudflare to actively block access to pirate MotoGP streams, confirming that third-party intermediaries can be required to take responsibility. <\/p>\n
The ruling follows a complaint from French entertainment powerhouse Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 d\u2019Edition de Canal Plus (SECP<\/a>), which holds the rights to various sports broadcasts. In this case, the proceeding was filed to protect its interests in MotoGP events, which started a new season last month. <\/p>\n The reasoning behind the blocking request is similar to a previous blocking order<\/a>, which also targeted OpenDNS<\/a> and Google DNS. It is grounded in Article L. 333-10 of the French Sports Code, which empowers rightsholders to seek court orders against any outfit that can help to stop \u2018serious and repeated\u2019 sports piracy. \u00a0 <\/p>\n This time, SECP\u2019s demands are broader than DNS blocking alone. The rightsholder also requested blocking measures across Cloudflare\u2019s other services, including its CDN and proxy services. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n The legal paperwork cites 14 domain names, including motogpstream.me and livestreamhd247.live, but doesn\u2019t stop there. SECP also pushed for dynamic blocking, asking Cloudflare to act against future<\/em> infringing sites identified by French media regulator, ARCOM.<\/p>\n Cloudflare put up a defense, arguing that unlike traditional ISPs, it isn\u2019t the kind of intermediary that\u2019s targeted by Article L. 333-10. The company said that its DNS, CDN, and reverse proxy services don\u2019t \u201ctransmit\u201d infringing content in the way envisioned by the law. Instead, they merely route traffic or cache content passively, so strict policing obligations are not appropriate.<\/p>\n Cloudflare also attacked the proportionality and effectiveness of the requested measures. For example, it said that DNS blocking would affect a \u201cnegligible\u201d number of users and could be easily bypassed by VPNs or other DNS resolvers, rendering these restrictions futile.<\/p>\n Cloudflare also warned that due to technical challenges, it could be difficult to accurately geo-restrict blocking measures to France, introducing a new risk of global collateral damage. <\/p>\n None of these defenses convinced the Paris court, which rejected all of Cloudflare\u2019s arguments. For example, it disregarded the \u201cpassive\u201d vs. \u201cactive\u201d distinction, concluding that intermediaries such as Cloudflare play an integral role in accessing pirate streams. As a result, the company is required to block this content. <\/p>\n The potentially limited effect of the blocking order didn\u2019t change the court\u2019s view either. While Cloudflare\u2019s blocking won\u2019t put an end to piracy, it will have an impact, even if some people bypass the proposed blocking measures.<\/p>\n All in all, the Paris Court ordered Cloudflare to comply and block the listed pirate site domains within three days. The blockades should stay in place for the remainder of the 2025 MotoGP season, across all relevant services. <\/p>\n The order was issued last week and Cloudflare has already implemented it, with the court allowing Cloudflare to adopt its own technical measures. Visiting the blocked domain names from France will now result in an HTTP 451 error, indicating that they are now unavailable for legal reasons<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Interestingly, the blockades may not stop at the 14 domain names mentioned in the original complaint. The \u2018dynamic\u2019 order allows SECP to request additional blockades from Cloudflare, if future pirate sites are flagged by French media regulator, ARCOM. Refusal to comply could see Cloudflare incur a \u20ac5,000 daily fine per site.<\/p>\n \u201c[Cloudflare is ordered to implement] all measures likely to prevent, until the date of the last race in the MotoGP season 2025, currently set for November 16, 2025, access to the sites identified above, as well as to sites not yet identified at the date of the present decision,\u201d the order reads.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n This latest French ruling is part of broader efforts by rightsholders to co-opt core internet infrastructure into their enforcement efforts. Mandatory blocking requirements, once largely confined to ISPs, are now gradually expanding to other intermediaries. The expansion is not just a French or European phenomenon; a proposed U.S. site blocking bill<\/a> also envisions a key role for DNS resolvers. <\/p>\n \u2014<\/em><\/p>\n A copy of the Paris Court order, issued on March 28, 2025, is available here (pdf)<\/a> <\/p>\n From: TF<\/a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.<\/p>\nDNS Resolvers are Liable<\/h2>\n
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<\/center><\/p>\nCloudflare\u2019s Failed Defense<\/h2>\n
Court Dismisses Pushback, Orders Blocking Measures<\/h2>\n
Future Pirate Site Domains are Covered<\/h2>\n
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