Linking to infringing material can violate copyright, says Dutch court

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

A link to leaked Playboy pictures published by the Dutch blog GeenStijl infringed on Playboy's copyrights, the Court of Amsterdam ruled this week. It is the first time a Dutch court has deemed a hyperlink not only illegal but also copyright infringing.

GeenStijl must remove all links to a leaked Playboy photo shoot of Dutch reality TV personality Britt Dekker, the court ruled. GeenStijl infringed on the copyright of local Playboy publisher Sanoma by linking to the photo shoot, which was posted on filesharing site FileFactory.com and later on ImageShack.

While linking to content in itself does not infringe on copyrights per se, the court said that a combination of factors was crucial in this case. The broader public was not aware of the existence of the leaked photos before GeenStijl published the link, the court said. The public wouldn't have had access to the photos without GeenStijl's intervention, according to the verdict.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/262320/linking_to_infringing_material_can_violate_copyright_says_dutch_court.html

[stinger]

Wow, a verdict like that would have to get Google's attorneys stirring.

I wonder what the rest of Europe and the rest of the world will make of this verdict.  It seems to me that if the Playboy affiliate did not want to let others get at the photos, they should have been password protected at least, or simply not internet accessible.