A Danish high court has ruled that a web site was responsible for
content to which it linked. Two 16-year-olds had web sites with
deep links to certain MP3 music files that infringe the copyrights
of artists and record companies. According to reports, the court
ruled that linking to such sites amounted to “a public presentation
of the illegal MP3 files.”
The court also found that the links made the two teenagers
accessories to their visitors’ illegal copying of the files. They
were ordered to pay compensation of DKK 100,000 (£8,388) to the
International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and
organisations representing various Danish groups of artists which
brought the action against them.
The teenagers were competing with each other to get the greatest
number of hits on their homepages – neither was operating a site
for profit.
Recently, a similar case was brought in Sweden by the IFPI on
the issue of linking to MP3 files. The court found the 17-year-old
in that case not liable for music piracy on the basis that the
files were not stored by him. However, the court noted that he
could have been liable for violating contributory copyright
infringement laws which he was not charged with.
The court added, "it is legal to have links to pirated music on
a homepage in Sweden if the links are to a server in a country
where it isn't illegal to pirate music.”
