Direct linking to audio webcasts ruled illegal by Texas court

[mandy]

A recent Texas court decision is the first in the country to deal with some of the copyright questions that surround live webcasts. Robert Davis runs a web site called supercrosslive.com at which he allegedly streamed audio webcasts of live supercross races that belonged to SFX Motor Sports. SFX sued him back in February, claiming trademark infringement for redistributing the webcasts and for using the company's logos and track maps without permission.

In its complaint, SFX was upset about "the unauthorized linking of Defendants' Internet locations with the Websites of Plaintiff, its sponsors and sanctioning body" and the "unauthorized copying, reproducing and distributing" of audio broadcasts. SFX says that this violated its copyright to the material and also made it more difficult to secure sponsors...

full article: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061222-8482.html

A federal judge in Texas has ruled that it is unlawful to provide a hyperlink to a Webcast if the copyright owner objects to it.

U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay in the northern district of Texas granted a preliminary injunction against Robert Davis, who operated Supercrosslive.com and had been providing direct links to the live audiocasts of motorcycle racing events.

Lindsay ruled last week that "the link Davis provides on his Web site is not a 'fair use' of copyright material" and ordered him to cease linking directly to streaming audio files...

full article: http://news.com.com/Judge+Cant+link+to+W...g=nefd.top