Are "free movies online" sites that LINK to the movie source infringing copyrights?

You've seen them all - movie sites with directories of links that lead to sites like dailymotion and google video. These are usually started up by regular people like us. Is this a violation of copyright? The movie is not played directly on the server, rather, only a link provided to another server and site. Is this wtong and do people face copyright charges for this?

 

MPAA just sued some of this kind of site last week. More info here http://www.betanews.com/article/MPAA_Sues_YouTVpc_Peekvid_for_Copyright_Infringement/1182983324

 

If your servers and where you're working from is not in/the United States, can you still be sued?

 

Im not positive about this, but i believe that when someone submits to youtube for instance they are basically saying that they own the copyright or have permission to use the video.. Obviously this is not the case for loads of them. But you can be very sure youtube or whatever site it happens to be have their own butts well covered... Im not sure what the deal is about displaying, streaming from your own site. Surely a TOS like the host site should work for sites streaming content too.. Youtube or whoever are actually hosting the content...

 

They are only providing a service.. The onus is on the uploader.. You don't need a driving license to buy a car.. not where i live anyway...

 

Unless your country does not recognise copyright law (dont know any that doesnt) then it makes no difference where you live. If you live in the same country as the film company you are potentially ripping off then it makes it easier.

An easy example is companies from both the USA and UK sued Allofmp3 based in russia

 

Yes, this is still copyright infringement if you are linking to copyrighted content that is being distributed illegally. It's known as contributory copyright infringement.

 

This means google, youtube ect are guilty of massive copyright infringement.... yes!!!!

 

Well, this is actually a grey area to a degree. Google, YouTube etc. are protected under the DMCA as service providers. They have registered as such and have measures in place to actively combat copyright infringement. They are also relying on user-submitted content.

If, for example, I create a site to display copyrighted videos I'm not automatically protected since I don't meet the safe harbor protections since:
a) I'm not registered under the DMCA provisions
b) I'm willfully linking/hosting the content, thus I know that copyright infringement is taking place.
c) I don't have the necessary measures in place to prevent/fight copyright infringement. (Statements such as "Not hosted here, Contact us and we will remove etc. won't cut it).
d) If there are any ads on the site, I'm profiting from the infringement activity.

The most clear cut cases where sites are likely to be taken down, and legal action taken against the owners, are those were the site is exclusively created to link/host copyrighted material.

Also see: this post for further info and links to cases.
The latest cases in the News

 

one word will sort this out

NO!

illexplain why tomorrow

 

I Don't believe they are. None of the content is hosted on their website. You just point to the content. Kind of like How torrent sites are 100% Legal. The only way the MPAA Can get you is by throwing money at the issue and forcing you to fight a legal battle. Check thepiratebay, I love their responses to threatening letters.

 

Not legal in US. But if you want to start a site like this make sure you get a web host based in the UK. Linking is not illegal there.

 

your basicly only safe if your in asia but then you have shitty server speeds. I know I have my own link site. It has shitty speeds

 

To me this is topic that can't really be answered at this time. There are sites such as peekvid and alluc.org that have been running for some time. Peekvid has even claimed that they are helping the copyright holders protect from infringement by traking down all of the videos for them. I guess the only real answer will be found in time by the resulting lawsuits.

 

http://www.cnbc.com/id/19459647

 

I always thought because you are simply linking to sites that host them you cannot be prosecuted, saying as you're not hosting them on your server. That's what I always thought, anyway.

 

You are kind of forfeiting your privacy etc when you post your own video online. It is to be assumed that it can be redistributed, shared, etc.

 

U.S. legislators and courts know very little about the internet and will usually end up siding with the people who have the most money, which is the MPAA (unless your name is Bill Gates).

 

Even youtube got sued.
I don't think that's a problem right now.

 

Its hard to monetize these sites anyways. All ppc programs deem it illegal and you will eventually be banned, and you cannot sell AFF as people that are too cheap to buy a video dont wanna spend money when watching a movie.