BERLIN (AP) — A court has ruled that German authorities are justified in banning three pornographic websites based in Cyprus from operating in Germany due to rules intended to protect minors.

The Duesseldorf administrative court said Wednesday it had rejected complaints by the sites' two unnamed operators, who argued that child-protection regulations in Germany didn't apply to them because they were based in another European Union country.

The court said the decision taken by the Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia state to ban the sites in Germany didn't breach national, European or international law.

Judges concluded that German law applies because “children and young people are at risk of serious and grave danger from freely available pornographic Internet sites,” the court said.

It cited studies showing half of all minors questioned had viewed available online pornography, while only a quarter of parents used devices or software to block such content.

The names of the sites weren't released by the court. The ruling can be appealed.