In the News

Whoops: Google indexes more than 86,000 HP 'public' printers, Zach Whittaker, ZDNet, January 28, 2013
Abstract: "Google has indexed tens of thousands of HP printers, which are publicly available from anyone with an Internet connection, but could also be attacked by hackers with malicious—albeit hilarious—intents. [Chilling Effects: This is something to keep an eye on.]

University backs down on link ban, Declan McCullagh, CNet News.com, October 08, 2002
Abstract: The University of California at San Diego has abandoned plans to discipline a student group for linking to an alleged terrorist Web site.

University bans controversial links, Declan McCullagh, CNet News.com, September 26, 2002
Abstract: The University of California at San Diego has ordered a student organization to delete hyperlinks to an alleged terrorist Web site, citing the recently enacted USA Patriot Act. School administrators have told the group, called the Che Cafe Collective, that linking to a site supporting the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC) would not be permitted because it violated federal law.

Deep Linking and Database Protection, BNA Electronic Commerce & Law Report, July 17, 2002
Abstract: A news aggregator Web site's so-called "deep linking" to individual articles on commercial newspaper Web sites violated the newspapers' rights under the Danish implementation of the European Union's Database Protection Directive, the Danish Bailiff's Court ruled July 5 (Danish Newspaper Publishers' Association v. Newsbooster.com ApS, Den. Fogedret, docket number unavailable, 7/5/02).

Newsbooster keeps on fighting , Official announcement from Newsbooster.com:, July 12, 2002
Abstract: COPENHAGEN: Friday July 5th Newsbooster.com lost the first battle in lower bailiff´s court. The decision got an immediately impact to several Danish companies, with a large international potential, who develop search engine technology.

Deep Linking Lunacy, Chris Sherman, SearchDay, July 07, 2002

Web site barred from linking to Danish newspaper Web sites, Jan M. Olsen, AP, July 05, 2002
Abstract: COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- Challenging the World Wide Web's fundamental premise of linking, a Danish court ordered an Internet news service to stop linking to Web sites of Danish newspapers.

Deep Linking's Legal Link on Hold, Farhad Manjoo, Wired News, June 27, 2002
Abstract: The Danish Newspaper Publishers' Association is suing Newsbooster, an online news service, over the site's "deep links" to the newspapers' websites. Deep links are links to any page on a site other than its front door. The DNPA says that the deep links violate the copyright over its content, and that they allow users to bypass the advertisements on the sites' front doors. Anders Lautrup-Larsen, the CEO of the Newsbooster, the defendant in the case, said a decision is expected at the next hearing, on July 5.

Linking, a fundamental premise of the Web, is challenged, Anick Jesdanun, AP, June 09, 2002
Abstract: Requiring permission before linking could jeopardize online journals, search engines and other sites that link -- which is to say, just about every site on the Internet. If the Web's creators hadn't wanted linking, ``they would have called it the World Wide Straight Line,'' said Avi Adelman, a Web site operator involved in a dispute over linking to The Dallas Morning News.

Runnerworld.com v. LetRun.com, LetsRun.com

Site Barks About Deep Link, Farhad Manjoo, Wired News, May 01, 2002
Abstract: The Dallas Morning News demands that BarkingDogs.org stop linking to individual stories from the newspaper's website and link to the front page only. The controversy over deep-linking deepens.

Paranoia, stupidity and greed ganging up on the public, Dan Gillmor, Mercury News, May 04, 2002
Abstract: If you are reading this column in the newspaper, but did not read every article and look at every advertisement in previous sections, stop now. You must go back and look at all of that material before continuing with this column.

Defining Ruling Issued in Hyperlink Patent Case, Brenda Sandburg, The Recorder, March 14, 2002
Abstract: In a case closely watched by intellectual property lawyers, a federal judge in New York issued an initial ruling on Wednesday that may undermine British Telecommunications' claims that it owns rights to the use of Internet hyperlinking. The suit, filed against Prodigy Communications, will help establish whether patents filed prior to the emergence of the Internet can be broadly interpreted to cover Internet-related technology.

Linking Patent Goes to Court, Reuters, February 07, 2002
Abstract: It may sound far-fetched, but a U.S. federal court will hear preliminary arguments next week to determine if hyperlinking, that most elemental of Internet activities, is the business property of a lone company, protected in the form of a patent.

Bigger Not Better With Copyrighted Web Photos, Brenda Sandburg, The Recorder, February 07, 2002
Abstract: Setting parameters for copyright infringement on the Internet, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that reproducing photographs to create thumbnail images on a search engine Web site is a fair use of the material, but displaying full-sized images violates the copyright of the images' owner. The case arose from a photographer's claim that the search engine Arriba improperly displayed his photos.

Court Denies Ford Preliminary Injunction Against Fuckgeneralmotors.com, Robert H. Cleland, U.S. District Court, Eastern Dist. Michigan, December 20, 2001
Abstract: .

The essence of the Internet is that sites are connected to facilitate access to information. Including linked sites as grounds for finding commercial use or dilution would extend the statute far beyond its intended purpose of protecting trademark owners from use that have the effect of “lessening . . . the capacity of a famous mark to identify and distinguish goods or services.”

Bally Total Fitness Holding Corp. v. Faber, 29 F. Supp. 2d 1161 (C.D. Cal. 1998). This court does not believe that Congress intended the FTDA to be used by trademark holders as a tool for eliminating Internet links that, in the trademark holder’s subjective view, somehow disparage its trademark. Trademark law does not permit Plaintiff to enjoin persons from linking to its homepage simply because it does not like the domain name or other content of the linking webpage.

Experts Say DeCSS Decision Could Undermine Online Journalists, Carl S. Kaplan, New York Times Cyberlaw Journal, December 14, 2001
Abstract: Free speech advocates are worried that a recent federal appeals decision could have a chilling effect on online journalists who use hyperlinks to direct readers to relevant, newsworthy sites that contain illegal material.

Big Stink Over a Simple Link, Farhad Manjoo, Wired News, December 06, 2001
Abstract: KPMG, an international services firm, prides itself on its "e-business" savvy, and it charges companies boatloads to improve their "new economy" businesses. But this week several website owners were wondering whether KPMG's Internet acumen was really worth anything at all, as it announced a policy that seemed to breach the most basic freedom on the Web -- the freedom to link to any site you want to.

MP3Board countersues RIAA, calls MP3 links legal - Tech News - CNET.com, John Borland, CNet News.com, July 18, 2000
Abstract: MP3Board.com is pursuing its own court battle that could have wide-ranging effects on the Web. MP3Board today filed its own claim against the Recording Industry Association of America, asking for redress for the RIAA's role in "temporarily shutting down the MP3Board Web site" because it links to copyrighted songs on other Web sites. The site contends that it simply posts links to content hosted on other Web sites, and that there is nothing illegal about such hyperlinks.