Judge Rules Against Deep-Linking of Content

An anonymous reader writes "A Texas judge has ruled that, if a copyright owner objects to the linking of content from another web site, that link must be taken down. This case, which may have some far-reaching implications, centered around a motorcross website. The site, run by a Robert Davis, provided links directly to live feeds of 'Supercross' events streaming from the SFX Motor Sports site. The company filed suit, claiming that the direct links were denying it advertising revenue. The article cites previous cases, where sites were prohibited by judges from linking to files which violated copyright law (such as DVD decryption software). From the article: 'But in those lawsuits, the file that was the target of the hyperlink actually violated copyright law. What's unusual in the SFX case is that a copyright holder is trying to prohibit a direct link to its own Web site. (There is no evidence that SFX tried technical countermeasures, such as referrer logging and blocking anyone coming from Davis' site.)'"

A short poem:

[Anonymous Coward]

Deep link from me
And it is goatse you will see

The end.

Re:cites != sites!

[gEvil (beta)]

are the proofreaders on Christmas break already?

Already? We're still waiting for them to return from the break they started taking in 1999.

Re:More nanny state BS

[exp(pi*sqrt(163))]

The government isn't kept around to guarantee that businesses will make a profit.

It isn't?

Re:it's their own dang fault...

[mabu]

Stealing is stealing.

Your response is analogous to the idea that just because my bicycle is on my own property, clearly labeled and locked up, that it's my own fault it was stolen because I didn't have a bigger lock.

People who deep link know exactly what they're doing. They're stealing content from other sites for their own gain. Regardless of whether or not the hosting site has elaborate referer restrictions or other crap, is irrelevant.

Stealing is stealing.

Re:this changes things a bit

[n00854180t]

That's probably the next step. Likely this judge will rule that thinking about content on the internet is an infraction punishable by death or absurd fine, and that by no means should any link URLs be thought of or transferred by way of non-digital medium (i.e., speech, paper text, smoke signals etc.).

Re:Wow.

[that this is not und]

Much like NASA car, you just cannot see the main attraction without also catching glimpses of the ads.

I think you meant 'Much like NASCAR.' And interestingly enough, NASA does not sponsor any drivers/teams at NASCAR, that I am aware of.