A Federal District Court Judge in Texas has ruled a deep link (hyperlink) to an audio webcast is a violation of the webcast owner’s copyright. Supercrosslive.com deep links to streaming audio webcasts of motorcross events. The webcasts are owned by SFX Motor Sports who did not give permission to the linking. Legal documentation here.
To linking law experts, the case should not come as a surprise since the podcast could be heard on the infringer’s site. Legally, it is really more than a deep link. It results in the copyrighted material being heard through another site. The same result happened to Google when Perfect 10 objected to Google Images thumbnail display of its adult photographs (see link to Related Post below). The Supercross case should not have any profound effect on other deep linkers like Trulia or other search engines so long as no framing or display of copyrighted materials appears—just keep it a simple hyperlink and you’re fine.
Bloggers, however, may have a legal problem for displaying videos and other copyrighted material on their blogs. Luckily, most copyright owners will just ask you to remove the material which you should do immediately after apologizing, asking permission and being denied. Few are likely to sue for money damages since they are difficult to quantify.
Source:C/Net News.
Many websites object to deep links, even absent framing, on the grounds that they cause viewers to bypass the home page and all the cool ads there. Legally, they have not been successful in the US. To learn more, I refer you to this excellent treatise on linking law by Mark Sableman, Esq. I have spoken to Mr. Sableman on several occasions and he sees trespass law as the new way to attack deep linkers.
Related Posts:
Linking Law and The Rabbit Holes of The Web
Adult Website Scores Perfect 10 Against Google In Copyright Suit
Things that make you go hmmmm.