TV-Links.co.uk Case Is Thrown Out Three Years After It Was Shut Down
TV-Links.co.uk the infamous free tv website created in 2006 has won a legal case, 3 years after being shut down.
TV-links.co.uk became the biggest and best links site on the internet according to many, but was shut down in October 2007 by FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft) in the UK. Its server was also shut down by the Dutch authorities. However a report on Torrentfreak.com says that the site should never have been closed in the first place..
The hearing eventually happened in January and Torrentfreak reports that the judge dismissed the case against the site, ruling that linking to TV shows wasn’t the same as distributing them.
The Judge also ruled that the allegations under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act failed because there was no evidence that TV-Links made available to the public the films and shows they linked to. There is no appeal available to FACT against this ruling.
The Judge noted that FACT had not applied the Attorney General’s guidelines when deciding to prosecute the defendants with Conspiracy to Defraud.
Although TV-Links.co.uk has never been back online, it has spawned a massive number of other TV show directories. The ramifications have yet to be felt, but in view of the verdict, will anyone else try to shut down a website that just links to the streaming content?
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Even though the site didnt host actual content but rather merely provided links to where particular titles can be found, they were nonetheless apparently charged for the “facilitation” of copyright infringement.
“Sites such as TV Links contribute to and profit from copyright infringement by identifying, posting, organizing, and indexing links to infringing content found on the internet that users can then view on demand by visiting these illegal sites,” said a spokesman for Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT).
WThe fact is though that tv links was just providing LINKS to pirated content, and never actually hosted any streams. Can linking really be considered “facilitation?” If you were to link to TVLinks are you then a co-conspirator?
It seems that the charges which looked like a joke, have been proved to be a joke.
Wonder how many streaming sites will suddenly pop up?
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