Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Do you put links into your blog? Think again.
Bloggers frequently put links in their blogs. Indeed, carrying links on any kind of web site is one of the ways in which the Internet works. In fact, the "hypertext" system of links was developed by Tim Berners-Lee (whoops I've put in a link) often known as the inventor of the World Wide Web. In fact without links, we have no Internet as we know it.
So perhaps we should pity the 26-year-old man from Cheltenham who has been arrested for including links in his web site. I jest not. The man was behind the TV-Links web site (whoops I've put in another link - prison here I come). The site (now taken down) was a listing of links to broadcast video. In other words, a useful site, that helped people find interesting bits of TV. You would have thought the broadcasters would be happy that the site, ranked 182 in the world by Alexa, was bringing them extra publicity.
But, oh no, the people whose links were carried by TV-Links were far from happy. Indeed, they have now claimed that the TV-Links site was breaching trademark law by carrying the links. Well, let's take a risk here, Microsoft (a registered trade mark) has never taken out criminal proceedings because I have linked to them. So, having done it again, there's a chance I'm going to be taken off in handcuffs. I await the blue flashing lights.
However, as Digital Lifestyles points out, the root of the problem is the slowness of the broadcasters who are only just waking up to the fact that you can watch video online. Of course, if the broadcasters had brought a case about copyright infringement it would be easier to understand. But trademarks? Barking up the wrong tree, I reckon. Or just plain barking.
Of course, I'm not a lawyer, but once again this case shows how big business and the brilliant legal brains of Britain fail to understand the Internet and its users. If links become trademarked goods, then virtually every site on the World Wide Web would grind to a halt - including your blog.
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Readers' Comments:
At
October 24, 2007 12:54 PM 
Mike Allan said…
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October 24, 2007 3:00 PM 
Graham Jones said…
Mike, thanks for this clarification, Graham
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October 24, 2007 6:38 PM Jeremy Jacobs said…
Wont stop me linking Graham!
Closing down TV-links because of trademark law may be a stretch, but from what I've been able to determine forensically (by using Google cache) is that he was actualy linking to sites such as DailyMotion. They are in fact the ones who are committing the copyright infringement and should be prosecuted, not the operator of TV-Links.