Sites like justin.tv and ustream.tv have live football (and by football, I mean English football. Don't even think about calling it soccer) streams which show most of the Premiership matches, ones not even on TV. My question is: is it legal for me to make a site which embeds those streams? Would I be likely to get in trouble with the rights holders to Premiership games in the UK (BSkyB and Setanta) for infringing their copyright? Or is linking/embedding completely legal? Thanks in advance for your help.
It is illegal. Last I read (a few months ago), justin.tv had been threatened with a lawsuit but I don't know if it has been filed yet. If you don't want to risk a huge legal bill, you should explore something else that doesn't involve embedding or linking to copyrighted content without permission.
I read not too long ago (month or so ago) of a man that was found civilly liable to a motocross (i believe) web site because he was embeding the live stream. I would not do it. Copyright law in the US and UK are very similar as they are signatories of the same convention. I would not embed those soccer matches on your site. You will probably loose a lot of money, before the judgement even comes.
In addition to what everyone has said here, you are going to be up against stiff competition, too. I don't see the reward here, but I do see the risk associated with this type of thing. It looks like something I'd most assuredly avoid at all costs.
If you did not create the content, and you don't have permission to post other people's content , then it is technically stealing. Whatever content is posted on free services like You Tube and such is of course open game, but you can't take someone elses copy written material and post it up on your site. Teams, and networks that provide sports entertainment are privately owned companies, and own what ever they create, just as you do with your company.
I see no problem in just streaming the video off of a site like megavideo or something. I do that all the time. I have had similar questions about live streams though. Anyone have any idea about Fifa and if they do live streams and have legal issues? I wonder because I think maybe ABC has those rules. Any idea?
You may not see a problem, but it's not legal, at least in the US. It's called contributory infringement.
with all the legal turmoil going on with the music and movie and tv industry (at least in the States), I'd stay away from that.
Actually, nothing is fair game, unless it is yours or you have permission. Youtube material is still copyrighted by the original creators, just like every other peice of creative work.