Plans to send warning letters to UK web users suspected of committing piracy offences have been delayed until late 2015.
The policy forms part of the controversial 2010 Digital Economy Act, and was scheduled to start in 2011.
However, the UK government but has now chosen to postpone the measures following a number of delays and protests, including a court case.
The news comes as a setback from copyright holders, who are taking increasingly-aggressive means of clamping down on internet piracy, such as coercing service providers to block the IP addresses of offending websites.
However, the Internet Service Providers’ Association (Ispa) claim that the latest setback was expected.
“The continued delay of the Digital Economy Act again shows, as Ispa argued at the time, that the legislation was rushed through without sufficient scrutiny,” it said in a statement. “To most effectively tackle the issue of online copyright infringement, Ispa maintains the content industry needs to continue to innovate to fully embrace the benefits the internet affords though fully licensed and user-friendly services.”
Other countries around the world have already implemented similar campaigns.
The US instigated a “six-strike” campaign to combat piracy in February, with five of its biggest ISPs issuing notices to alleged copyright infringers.
Under the system, suspected pirates will receive six warnings, after which their internet access may be limited.
And last year New Zealand’s government said it had halved piracy rates by implementing a three-strike rule.