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Links To Unauthorized MP3 Files On Other Sites are Illegal, Aussie Court Rules

December 19, 2006

OK, say you have a website, and you want to link to downloadable MP3 files on other sites. Legally downloadable or not.

No, not the download page, or to a textual review of some of these files, but to the actual file that spawns the download.

An Australian appeals court says that is not OK.

The case is one involving Stephen Cooper, a retired police officer and his now-shut MP3s4free.net. This site was not a hobby, but one that received more than 7 million unique visitors during its shelf life of November 2002 to October 2003.

The question in this case was whether Cooper could legally post links to copyrighted material on other sites. Yet in the Court's judgment, this linking was to copyrighted music that neither the linked-to sites or Cooper had the right to distribute.

"A principle purpose of the Web site was to enable infringing copies of the downloaded sound recordings to be made," Judge Susan Kenny wrote. "The fact that the Web site also carried a warning that some downloading could be illegal did not lessen the force of the invitation (to download the copyrighted files)."

Judge Kenny also said in effect that because Cooper made access to these unathorized links so easy, reinforced his copyright infringement guilt.




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