The high court will rule for the first time next month on whether to force a British internet service provider to block access to a website enabling illicit filesharing "on a grand scale".

Hollywood film studios, including Warner Bros, Fox, Disney and Paramount Pictures, on Tuesday asked the high court to order BT, the UK's largest ISP, to cut off access to Newzbin2, which they claim provides links to pirated movies and TV shows.

Mr Justice Arnold on Wednesday said the court will make a formal judgment soon after 12 July, once BT and the studios have put forward written submissions for a separate court battle over the sale of counterfeit products on eBay.

The ruling in that case, due to be handed down at the high court on 12 July, could help decide whether BT is liable for the material – legal or illegal – that travels over its network.

BT argues that forcing it to ban its 6 million UK customers from accessing a website would usher in a new wave of online censorship. In its written submission, BT said rights holders could try to block about 400 filesharing websites a year. Blogs containing defamatory comments would also be targeted, BT added.

However, the Hollywood studios – represented by their international trade body, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) – claim that online piracy is costing them hundreds of millions of pounds a year. They want BT to block access to Newzbin2 in the same way it blocks child abuse websites on the Internet Watch Foundation list.

Richard Spearman QC, acting for the studies, told the high court on Wednesday: "Anything that can be done to deter or prevent this infringement ought to be done."