Nairobi — MultiChoice Kenya has filed contempt of court proceedings against Jamii Telecom Limited accusing the internet service provider of defying High Court orders to block 141 sports pirating websites.

Despite being granted 72 business hours, up from an initial 48 business hours, to comply with the take down notices, Jamii Telecom Limited was yet to comply with the court orders on Friday.

The internet provider filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal seeking a stay against the orders of the High Court but failed in its attempt to have the matter certified as urgent.

Justice Wilfrida Okwany made a finding that MultiChoice Kenya had lawfully issued valid takedown notices to two ISPs, the other being Safaricom which has expressed commitment to comply.

In a decision delivered on June 23, she further found that the two organizations had not given any lawful excuse for their failure to comply with the takedown notices.

The High Court of Kenya confirmed a permanent injunction compelling internet service providers (ISPs) to block sports pirate websites infringing on copyrighted material.

MultiChoice Kenya Managing Director Nancy Matimu expressed her disappointment at the leading telco's failure to comply with the court order.

"The Kenyan law has sent a clear message that we respect the right of content creators to earn a living from their work," said Nancy.

The Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) and the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) were enjoined interested parties in the suit whose verdict was welcomed by representatives of civil-society copyright bodies, which work to fight content piracy and protect intellectual property.

"We have been fighting for years to ensure that there are legal copyright protections, and that those protections are enforced.

"The court has reaffirmed the stance of the law that copyright must be protected," added Nancy.

MultiChoice and Safaricom are currently in talks and are working together towards compliance of the court order.