Stephanie Wong from Des Voeux Chambers was invited to deliver a CPD lunchtime seminar on the topic of “Dynamic Blocking Injunctions” for Wilkinson & Grist on 5 February 2024.
With technological advancement, the real infringer can be difficult or impossible to identify, and may be hidden anywhere in the world causing enforcement challenges. The Court has therefore come up with the novel idea of “website blocking injunctions” against so-called innocent third-party internet service providers (ISPs). However, conventional static blocking injunctions may simply be ineffective as it is easy to circumvent by the creation of mirror new websites or relocation of server. A new species of blocking injunction called the “dynamic blocking injunctions” was developed to address these problems.
Since the remedy is against innocent parties and could be costly to implement, balancing interests and proportionality are key to the formulation of requirements and scope of the blocking injunctions. Stephanie discussed various issues evolving around blocking injunctions and dynamic blocking injunctions, including the legal principles and requirements, effectiveness, implementation etc. She also addressed a comparative study of static and dynamic blocking injunctions in other jurisdictions.
