Is this Fair? Or even legal?

[domainacrobat]

I came across this article, it presents an interesting precedent. If this is the future of things to come it will make things real sticky for all kinds of cease and desist letters. Its kind of scary if you think about it, whats next? Pretty soon selling and buying links will get real tricky. If any site you link to is linked to an illegal copy of anything be it video, audio, literature, blog or any infringement of anykind. Next thing you know every other company will start to follow siut, Movie studios, Music studios, every artist and writer will have the ability to file C&D for numerous sites that even link to something...

http://quicksilverscreen.com/is-linking-illegal/


Thoughts on Fox's actions?

 

[-Rasmus-]

IMO solving Fox's problem would be by getting rid of the source (clips at DailyMotion). I'm wondering why haven't people at Fox sent these e-mails to DailyMotion? And if they have then why hasn't DailyMotion removed the infringing materials?

 

[DNQuest.com]

Actually, it appears the person had files on thier server and not links. That is completely illegal to do so.

 

[nmallare]

Actually, it appears the person had files on thier server and not links. That is completely illegal to do so.

Not so sure where you got this information from. Looks to me like they are simply links to dailymotion.com's files.

Nick

 

[DNQuest.com]

From this...

http://tv.quicksilverscreen.com/watch-24-episodes-online-free/

http://links.quicksilverscreen.com/watch-free-family-guy-episodes-online-for-free/

http://movies.quicksilverscreen.com/watch-firefly-episodes-online-free/

http://movies.quicksilverscreen.com/watch-every-episode-of-futurama-free/

http://links.quicksilverscreen.com/watch-episodes-of-king-of-the-hill-free/

http://tv.quicksilverscreen.com/watch-my-name-is-earl-free/

http://links.quicksilverscreen.com/watch-every-episode-of-the-simpsons-free/

It seems the letter was written to the domain owner of quicksilverscreen.com, the links are to his own site. it is a 404 now so I have no idea what the content was, but these are not direct links to a different site. There could have been redirects on the index page of each folder, but as of right now, I read it as he had the files hosted.

 

[nmallare]

Then you read it incorrectly!

http://quicksilverscreen.com/watch-24-episodes-online-free/
http://quicksilverscreen.com/watch-the-new-battlestar-galactica-free/
http://quicksilverscreen.com/watch-free-family-guy-episodes-online-for-free/
http://quicksilverscreen.com/watch-every-episode-of-futurama-free/

Those are working examples of how he has them now, and I'd assume the "Battlestar Galactica" one is similar to how they all were. He NEVER hosted any content, simply links.

Nick

 

[labrocca]

The C&D is legal. And you did read it wrong DNQ...they are asked to remove LINKS to unauthorized copies. A C&D doesn't make linking illegal. They are simply requesting that the site removes the links. It has yet to be in a U.S. Court a situation like this. It will have large effects on freedom of speech and intellectual property rights. When it does begin (and eventually someone will) it will undoubtedly go to the Supreme Court.

My opinion is that knowingly linking to copyrighted material will be illegal...as it should be. It's aiding and abetting an illegal act of copyright infringement. Napster was effectively shut down for the same reasons.

 

[domainacrobat]

My opinion is that knowingly linking to copyrighted material will be illegal...as it should be. It's aiding and abetting an illegal act of copyright infringement. Napster was effectively shut down for the same reasons.

So you think that Myspace would and should become completely illegal, everyones page is linked to or displaying copyrighted material even though youtube and its users are breaking the law. I think this legal issue will lead to massive arguements. Not to mension tons of headaches for little guys with popular sites. The moment one user links to copyrighted material you are going to get a C&D letter search out all the tiny little link infractions in your database every day. Im not so sure linking should be prosecuted, it is going to cause google to ban lots of sites for seemingly no reason. IMO there needs to be jurisdiction before companies can start sending out C&D orders.

 

[labrocca]

The USERS of Youtube and Myspace are the ones breaking the law...not the site themselves. This is already in law that a site can't be held responsible by the actions of it's users. ISPs and forums are basically exempt from liability. However it was the site owner that placed those links...with full knowledge of their illegality.

A C&D is only a request. It doesn't even have to come from a lawyer. There doesn't need to be any jurisdiction on sending a request asking people to Cease and Desists their activity (legal or not). Often C&Ds are used to strong-arm stupid people that are ignorant of the law and their rights.

 

[domainacrobat]

The USERS of Youtube and Myspace are the ones breaking the law...not the site themselves. This is already in law that a site can't be held responsible by the actions of it's users. ISPs and forums are basically exempt from liability. However it was the site owner that placed those links...with full knowledge of their illegality.

A C&D is only a request. It doesn't even have to come from a lawyer. There doesn't need to be any jurisdiction on sending a request asking people to Cease and Desists their activity (legal or not). Often C&Ds are used to strong-arm stupid people that are ignorant of the law and their rights.

Labrocca, I agree with and understand about C&D's, they try to strong arm you and scare you into submission.

However, I disagree slightly about the USERS being at complete fault. Its passing the blame. For example look at File Sharing (Kazaa, Napster, list goes on and on) - They have the whole thing at the front stating do not download copyrighted material its against the law blah blah. They were not exempt from prosecution, why should MYSPACE and YOUTUBE be any different. I think they still share in the resposibility. I am an artist, a photographer to be exact. I hate when someone steals my photos and posts them. Its the exact same thing as posting a movie. Who do I send my lawsiut to? Is MYSPACE liable, they have my images illegally hosted on their servers!!! If i get 1 million other artists who have had their copyrighted materials posted on myspace without authorization together, do we have a class action law siut? IN MY OPINION MYSPACE AND YOUTUBE HAVE SHOULD BE PROSECUTED AS WELL SINCE THEY HAVE COPYRIGHTED MATERIALS ON THEIR SERVERS. They are at fault just as much as their users are - funny thing is P2P sharing sites like Kazaa dont even have copyrighted materials on their servers!

 

[DNQuest.com]

When I looked at them, there was a 404.. so I was basing it on the file locations that were shown and assumed he was hosting them. But that page was linking out.

The difference between this and youtube is that youtube is not the one linking to the illegal material, it is the users whereas the site owner is linking the files from his site. There is also a difference between linking to ONE items as opposed to linking to a complete library of media.

 

[Lanstrifer]

I think it may be illegal but I would have to look into it more.

 

[aliengg]

Youtube is worse, but they are big guy now. You have to be strong to stand in the wind.