The European Court of Justice (CJEU) has cleared the way for Dutch-based internet service providers (ISPs) to fully implement the blockade of The Pirate Bay, the operation of which "may constitute an infringement of copyright." The ruling issued by the Luxemburg court could set in motion the larger campaign to force the demise of TPB and end torrenting in general, reports said.

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The decision handed down by the CJEU "may set a precedent in the music and film industries' fight to stem piracy," Bloomberg said in a report. The court ruling has determined that by "making available and managing an online platform for sharing copyright-protected works," TPB is actively facilitating instances of copyright infringement.

Widely acknowledged as the biggest torrenting operation in the world, The Pirate Bay has reportedly attracted an average of 250 million visitors per month and the figures are projected to breach the 300 million mark by June 2017. Obviously, worldwide users flock to the file-sharing site for the ready to download digital contents, which government authorities and copyright holders label as online piracy.

The CJEU ruling appears convinced that TPB operators were fully aware that the file-sharing platform "provides access to works published without the consent of the right holders." In effect, The Pirate Bay plays an important role in the act of copyright infringement committed by millions who frequent the website.

In providing the greenlight for Dutch ISPs to block The Pirate Bay and labeling the latter's operation as bordering to illegal, the court ruling is likely to trigger a region-wide blockade of TPB that could lead to the site's eventual demise and that of similar torrenting operations.

However, the decision by CJEU will not alter the reality that "nothing substantial will change," a defiant TPB representative told TorrentFreak. "Maybe more ISPs will block TPB.  More people will use one of the hundreds of existing proxies, and even more new ones will be created as a result," the report quoted the same person as saying.

TPB added on its statement that ISP blockades do not bother them at all. "We've long since adapted to them.  We serve the needs of millions of people every day in spite of them."