Hi, I recently discovered http://southparkzone.com/. This website shows episodes of southpark on it. However because the episodes are not hosted on the website apparently it is not illegal. Is this true? I would very much like to setup a website for a different TV show that has a growing fan base. But I would not want to be doing anything illegal. I also wonder about trademark issues on the domain name. Can somebody fill me in on all of this stuff? Also if I were to upload episodes of a TV show onto GoFish.com would I get banned from gofish? Thanks!
I think both the people who are hosting it and the people who are distributing/monetizing off the episodes would get in legal trouble. I'm not an expert on it though, maybe someone else can give you accurate advice.
You should never upload content that you do not have copyright for on any video sharing sites. I think the site is legal as long as you do not upload or host any content and as long as you have a contact address where the copyright holders may request that you remove their content from your site. I am 100% sure that the way you should go is ask a lawyer about the legal risk you are about to take anyway.
Yeah, the url and the content could be considered copyright infringement, from what I understand. I sense a cease and desist letter on the horizon.
The URL itself isn't illegal, unless you use it for the show southpark. Which obviously its being used for. If it was used for say South Park in New york or something not pertaining to the show it wouldn't be illegal. But if you use the show to profit, you could be in trouble.
It probably is breaching some form of law. However, I love the look of the site and it's a cool banner.
They're on the border of illegality. However the studios prefer to fight at the source (YouTube, DailyMotion, Stage6) because it's much more effective.
I was wondering if this is legal in the UK given the following circumstances: The site is for profit The site embeds copyright protected content hosted externally (hotlinking) The owner is a UK citizen but hosts the site abroad (Netherlands or somewhere else outside British jurisdiction) The site does not encourage uploading illegal content The domain has changed to http://www.xepisodes.com/ so does not infringe any viacom trademarks. I am interested in the whole legal status surrounding these sites so if anyone has any information on this I would appreciate it. Please provide links to various sources if you have them. Thanks, Jack
I use that site quite a lot - good site. They have been made to change their domain; "We are sorry to inform you that the organisation WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) has decided that our domain name "SouthParkZone.com" must be handed over to the South Park trademark holder "Viacom". Apperently it is illegal to use the name "South Park" in a domain name. We are continuing the website under the domain name XEPISODES.COM. The website stays completely the same, so nothing changes for you exept that you will have to go to a different domain name." quote from homepage The site will still be up and running under the domain: xepisodes.com _Super_SambrooK_
Thanks Super Sambrook. I was wondering however if the sites operation is illegal. Does anybody have any hard evidence regarding this or is it all just speculation? Thanks agin.
Well its not really Illegal In my eyes as they are not hosting the content , I suppose in some ways it's illegal as you are showing content on your website without consent ? Also any domains that you own are yours and VIACOM should have no say in it.
In the United States, the DMCA has a rather chilling effect on free speech when "linking" to copyrighted content. Although it hasn't been tested in higher courts, lower courts have ruled it as an attempt to circumvent the law by providing access to the illegal content without specifically "hosting" it. I'm not sure what the UK equivalent is.
The site now reroutes you to the southpark main website. The use of "southpark" in a domain name is legal, however, what the site was doing was VERY illegal. For those who don't know; the site used to play southpark episodes without permission from Viacom