Rapidshare Lead The Field
Currently residing Overseas with the US Army 09102 In Europe, will move to GA in 2008. I need advice regarding posting links to Rapidshare or Megaupload. Can I post links to files that might infringe with Copyright? The links would not be indexed, for example in a quote an are for personal use only? Under which circumstances can links to Rapidshare or Megaupload be posted on a website? There would be no profit, maybe some advertisement would be on there is that legal?
Legal Or Illegal? Rapidshare and Megaupload. And it is impossible to tell whether one's linking will lead to a suit or not. Lead the Field Item Preview. Remove-circle Share or Embed This Item.
A site was shut down in the UK. Actually, some courts have said that linking can be copyright infringement. Links can violate the copyright holder's right to distribute and control the use of his copyrighted material. The problem is, other courts have ruled it isn't copyright infringement to merely link to a site. Of course, the circumstances involved in all of the cases were different, but there is no definitive answer as to whether it is legal or not.
You definitely risk an infringement suit if you have not received permission from the copyright holder to link to their material. Even if you were to win such a suit, the suit alone is costly and time-consuming. Sorry, Katie, but your logic is flawed. Just 'cause they haven't been sued yet doesn't mean it's legal. I mean, it's still technically legal, but not exactly because of the reasons you've stated. I'm going to reiterate this one last time: there is no legislation on this topic, so it will be completely up to case law, of which very little exists. Somebody needs to get sued and lose before it will actually be illegal (confirming that as of now it's alright), but I'm quite certain that over the next few years we will see an end to this.
There have been a series of copyright infringement suits filed against Google. And Perfect 10 v. Amazon.com Inc. And Google Inc. And Agence France Press v.
Google Inc., among many others. One thing all of these suits have in common (other than copyright infringement and Google) is that they have been expensive to bring and time-consuming - for both the Plaintiffs in the cases and the Defendant Google. Arguments by Google in defense against copyright infringement suits have been based on the fact that search engines do not own the content but rather organize and provide access to the copyrighted material. They generate revenue not through the use of copyrighted material but by selling advertising. Google, and other search engines, now tend to avoid liability under the DMCA.
If they are notified of infringing material, they must remove it. In the cases cited above, courts determined that Google did not directly infringe. Google's defense team used implied license, fair use, the doctrine of estoppel and safe harbor provisions as arguments against infringement. Copyright holders have cited unauthorized linking in their suits against giants like Google and also against smaller websites. They sue for copyright infringement, trademark infringement, dilution and/or false designation. Additionally they sue for misappropriation, unfair competition, and under contract law theories. Again, courts have not ruled unanimously in these suits - and it is impossible to tell whether one's linking will lead to a suit or not.
Win or lose a suit, however, the costs often run into the multi-thousands and take months and even years in court to resolve. IMPORTANT NOTICE FreeAdvice.com has been providing millions of consumers with outstanding information and 'advice' free since 1995 with thousands of professionally prepared and reviewed articles, questions and answers in more than 100 categories in the Question and Answer pages. THE VIEWS EXPRESSED ON THIS AND OTHER FORUM PAGES WERE NOT REVIEWED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OR ATTORNEYS AT FREEADVICE.COM and are provided AS IS. The FreeAdvice Forums are intended to enable consumers to benefit from the experience of other consumers who have faced similar legal issues. FreeAdvice does NOT vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any posting on the Forums or the identity or qualifications of any person asking questions or responding on the Forums.
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