The High Court has ordered Telefonica UK Limited, trading as O2, to disclose the names and addresses of its broadband customers who are alleged to have committed copyright infringements through BitTorrent filesharing of pornographic films.

Arnold J stated in his judgment that the claim by Golden Eye (International) Limited and Ben Dover Productions was one made by a copyright owner and its exclusive licensee and that they had a good arguable case that many of the relevant intended defendants had infringed their copyrights by peer-to-peer file sharing of the films. It was held that the interests of the claimants in enforcing their copyrights outweighed the interests of the intended defendants in protecting their privacy and data protection rights.

The full judgment can be accessed at Golden Eye (International) Limited & Anor v Telefonica UK Limited (2012) http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2012/723.html