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Charity asked to pay just to link to newspaper websites

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Re: Charity asked to pay just to link to newspaper websites

#11

Post by rmc »

keithpeter wrote: post #4

Er - so there is a fair use defence for using short quotations from articles, but linking to the source so that the reader can see the whole context of the quote may be a copyright infringement? Sounds really sensible to me.

"Fair use" is a USA copyright idea. In Ireland (& UK) there is a weaker "fair dealing".

Annoying the US constitution is nicer about copyright, since it says that copyright is explicitly for limited time, and that it's to benefit the arts & sciences. Whereas the European Charter of Fundamental Freedoms (which was only enacted recently), just states that "Intellectual property shall be respected". No limits, no purposes. ☹

Re: Charity asked to pay just to link to newspaper websites

#12

Post by rmc »

micktwomey wrote: post #9

A reply has been sent to Women's Aid from Newspaper Licensing Ltd: http://www.mcgarrsolicitors.ie/2012/05/24/reply-received-fro... I recommend following @Tupp_Ed (Simon McGarr) on twitter as he's very involved in copyright issues in Ireland. He previously came to fame when the Irish Minister of State for Research and Innovation refused to participate in a debate on the Irish equivalent to SOPA unless Simon stepped do…

The reply is brilliant, and is an example of a lawyer calling them on their nonsense:

"> “a licence is required to link directly to an online article even without uploading any of the content directly onto your own website”.

We would be grateful if you would specify the statutory basis of this claim by return of post."

Basically "I don't think that's the law, please tell us the law. Oh you can't find it?"

Re: Charity asked to pay just to link to newspaper websites

#13

Post by amouat »

conanite wrote: post #3

There's a lot of greed in copyright, and there's a lot of stupidity, but this is an example of both combined in one place. What kind of colossal misunderstanding does it take to confuse linking and copying?

I don't believe they misunderstand, though they may be greedy and stupid. They just want people to pay for the privilege of linking to their articles.

Re: Charity asked to pay just to link to newspaper websites

#14

Post by nicholassmith »

If I'm ever in need of legal help in Dublin, I'm definitely picking those guys.

Essentially a ruling in favour of this will cripple traffic to the sites of the companies suing, which means they'll lose money and potentially put themselves out of business. Another contender for this weeks Business Darwin Awards.

Re: Charity asked to pay just to link to newspaper websites

#15

Post by nl »

In Belgium the newspapers won a case against Google linking and quoting their papers in Google News[1]. Of course it didn't work out that well[2].

I'm not saying it is right, nor sensible, but Irish law isn't US law (having said that under Australian law - which is fairly closely related to Irish law - this wouldn't be legal.)

[1] http://hyperom.com/2011/07/16/belgian-newspapers-sued-google...

[2] http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110718/16394915157/belgia...

Re: Charity asked to pay just to link to newspaper websites

#16

Post by DanBC »

nl wrote: post #15

In Belgium the newspapers won a case against Google linking and quoting their papers in Google News[1]. Of course it didn't work out that well[2]. I'm not saying it is right, nor sensible, but Irish law isn't US law (having said that under Australian law - which is fairly closely related to Irish law - this wouldn't be legal.) [1] http://hyperom.com/2011/07/16/belgian-newspapers-sued-google... [2] http://www.techdirt…

Court cases about "deep linking" feel absurd. But they happen, and they've gone different ways in different countries.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_linking)

Re: Charity asked to pay just to link to newspaper websites

#19

Post by irishstu »

gaius wrote: post #17

That it is a charity is neither here nor there - regardless of the linking issue (which, IMHO, is silly, the point of the web is linking!) that's an attempt by the writer to cloud the issue by making an appeal to emotion.

It's stupid behaviour to do it in the first place, and shitty behaviour to do it to a charity.

Re: Charity asked to pay just to link to newspaper websites

#20

Post by ktizo »

gaius wrote: post #17

That it is a charity is neither here nor there - regardless of the linking issue (which, IMHO, is silly, the point of the web is linking!) that's an attempt by the writer to cloud the issue by making an appeal to emotion.

The writer is mentioning the charity, because this case involves that charity. What do you suggest as an alternative?

You could remove all mention of charity for issues involving charities, just to make sure that no-one is being emotionally manipulated by the fact that charities exist, but then articles about things happening to charities would start to resemble redacted missives from some government ministry of truth.

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