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TV links.co.uk news..
Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact) are responsible for shutting down the website www.tv-links.co.uk. Officers from Gloucestershire arrested a 26 year old man based in Cheltenham (UK) on 18 October 2007, under Section 92 of the Trade Marks Act 1994. They also arrested the moderators of the websites. The website had found numerious videos on the internet, and created a catalogue of links to the video's, making it easier for users to find illegal content. TV Links had become very a popular website which is why 'FACT' chose to target it. The legal reasoning is quite blurred, as there does not seem to be any laws which apply to website linking. Section 92 of the Trade Marks Act 1994 for which he has been arrested for, deals with falsely applying signs to goods and does not seem to apply to this situation. The website did not host any of the video's, and wasnt even based in the UK. Kieron Sharp is the FACT's general director, he said the man was arrested in connection with offences relating to copyright infridgement on the internet.
“We at FACT have stated very clearly that we intended to pursue those who are openly exploiting and facilitating the distribution of illegal film and TV content and this was the first major target.
The theft and distribution of films harms the livelihoods of those working in the UK film industry and in ancillary industries, as well as damaging the economy.
In addition, those visiting sites hosting illegal content run the risk of downloading Trojans or viruses that can infect their computers.”
Kieron Sharp, FACT Director General
"This practice allows people to view any one of a large number of films and television programmes directly via the website. This is illegal under UK copyright law. The 'users' are potentially evading licence fees, subscription fees to digital services or the cost of purchase or admittance to cinemas to view the films.
No physical product changes hands but the effect is the same - anyone has the opportunity to view an illegal copy of a copyrighted work. This is all done without the permission of the owners of the copyright or trade mark protection in the works being distributed.
As no control is exerted over who can visit the site and access the service, there is no regard for the age of the viewer and therefore no control of the content of what is viewed." - Roger Marles, Head of Trading Standards
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TV-links.co.uk website which is based in Netherlands, had linked to a large amount of videos which had been found on the internet, majority of the videos them hosted by Google, youku.com & todou.com which have remained untouched. TV-Links.co.uk was managed by Leaseweb who has since completely removed the web server.