I cannot see how the operator of the PTAS website commits an act of communicating copyright works to the public.
If a PTAS site is purely the source from which the Popcorn Time application software is downloaded and the application itself, once operational on the user’s computer, never connects back to the PTAS site then can the reasoning employed in the earlier cases apply? I do not believe it can. “The difference with the Popcorn Time system is that now it is the application itself running on the user’s computer which presents to the user catalogued and indexed connections to the sources of the copies. Hollywood studios had a bit of trouble in terms of showing the justice how certain Popcorn Time websites were communicating copyrighted content to users as it’s just a tool. The ISPs (Sky, Virgin, TalkTalk, etc.) hardly put up a fight, but Birss wished to figure out what he was ordering and put it in context to past blocking orders made against the likes of indexing websites like Newzbin2 and PirateBay as well as illegal streaming sites. The justice’s reasoning in getting to this conclusion is interesting. “By the hearing this aspect had been clarified: the claimants are seeking to achieve both ends and a blocking order directed to both and websites is likely to achieve both objectives.” “On paper it was not clear whether the ostensible purpose of the blocking order was intended just to prevent users from obtaining the Popcorn Time application itself or whether it was intended to interfere with the operation of Popcorn Time applications already downloaded,” writes the Justice.
telecoms to block access, Justice Birss has handed down a landmark decision that seems to go further than any court has gone before. Ultimately, though, in ordering the biggest U.K. Nicolas Cage Dismisses Reports He Went Method as Dracula on 'Renfield' Set: "I Had a Lot of Laughs In Between Takes"