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Advanced Copyright Issues on the Internet - Fenwick & West LLP

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found. Linking to a site c<strong>on</strong>taining infringing material may also give rise to vicarious liability, if<strong>the</strong> linking site derives financial benefit from <strong>the</strong> link.As discussed in Secti<strong>on</strong> III.C.5(b) above, <strong>the</strong> DMCA provides a safe harbor under certainc<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s to OSPs who set up out links to infringing material without knowledge of <strong>the</strong>infringement.Inline links may provide an even more direct basis for legal liability than out links. Aninline link causes a reproducti<strong>on</strong> of <strong>the</strong> linked material to be “pulled in” to <strong>the</strong> linking site, and<strong>the</strong>refore may cause an infringement of <strong>the</strong> right of reproducti<strong>on</strong>, display, or performance, ormay c<strong>on</strong>stitute <strong>the</strong> creati<strong>on</strong> of an unauthorized derivative work, just as if material had beenclipped from a printed source and placed in <strong>on</strong>e’s own material. An inline link may also causean infringing access or transmissi<strong>on</strong> of copyrighted material under <strong>the</strong> WIPO treaties.Although bey<strong>on</strong>d <strong>the</strong> scope of this paper, both out links and inline links may raise issuesof trademark infringement as well as copyright infringement. The trademarks of <strong>the</strong> linked siteare often used as an ic<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> which <strong>the</strong> user may click to reach <strong>the</strong> linked site, and <strong>the</strong> trademarkowner may argue that such use c<strong>on</strong>stitutes an infringement. In additi<strong>on</strong>, both out links and inlinelinks may give rise to allegati<strong>on</strong>s of false implicati<strong>on</strong>s of sp<strong>on</strong>sorship or endorsement of <strong>the</strong>linking site by <strong>the</strong> company affiliated with <strong>the</strong> linked site or material, or of c<strong>on</strong>fusi<strong>on</strong> as tosource of <strong>the</strong> linked material.There have been a number of cases challenging linking and framing <strong>on</strong> copyrightgrounds: 20911. The Shetland Times CaseA recent case out of Scotland illustrates <strong>on</strong>e type of harm that a linked site ownerperceived to result from links to its site. In The Shetland Times Co., Ltd. v. Wills, 2092 <strong>the</strong>plaintiff, The Shetland Times (“Times”), maintained a website c<strong>on</strong>taining copies of articles thatappeared in <strong>the</strong> printed versi<strong>on</strong> of its newspaper. Users visiting <strong>the</strong> site were initially presentedwith a “fr<strong>on</strong>t page” c<strong>on</strong>taining headlines. Clicking <strong>on</strong> a headline linked <strong>the</strong> user to <strong>the</strong> full textof <strong>the</strong> article. The Times planned to sell advertising space <strong>on</strong> <strong>the</strong> fr<strong>on</strong>t page.The defendant, The Shetland New (“News”), also maintained a website. News tookverbatim <strong>the</strong> headlines from Times’ site and placed <strong>the</strong>m <strong>on</strong> News’ Web page to allow users atNews’ site to link directly to <strong>the</strong> full text of Times’ articles, without having to first view Times’fr<strong>on</strong>t page. This bypassing of Times’ fr<strong>on</strong>t page obviously caused harm to Times’ ability to selladvertising <strong>on</strong> <strong>the</strong> fr<strong>on</strong>t page, since those readers of Times’ articles who arrived at <strong>the</strong> articles2091 In additi<strong>on</strong> to <strong>the</strong> United States cases discussed in text, in Jan. 2001, an <strong>on</strong>line European recruitment company,StepSt<strong>on</strong>e, obtained an injuncti<strong>on</strong> in Germany against OFiR, a Danish media group, preventing OFiR fromdeep linking (bypassing its home pages) to StepSt<strong>on</strong>e’s web site. The injuncti<strong>on</strong> was based <strong>on</strong> new Europeanlaws <strong>on</strong> database and copyright protecti<strong>on</strong>. Jean Eaglesham, “Recruiter Bans Rival’s Links,” available as ofJan. 18, 2001 at http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3YQ8AC2IC.2092 Scotland Court of Sessi<strong>on</strong>, Oct. 24, 1996.- 455 -

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