I thought I'd forward this to the list. Some good additional information on deep linking and legal issues. ~Jenny -----Original Message----- From: Dan L Burk [mailto:burkx006@tc.umn.edu] Sent: Friday, February 15, 2002 5:22 PM To: jstromer@asc.upenn.edu Subject: Deep Linking Hi Jennifer -- I just noted your query about so-called "deep linking" on the air-l archive (I am not currently subscribed to the list). There have been several cases dealing either with unauthorized links, or with in-line framing, which raises the same set of issues -- not only Ticketmaster,but Futuredontics, Shetland Times, Utah Lighthouse Ministries, even the DeCSS Corley case. Most of the cases have settled, but a few have produced published opinions, including one just last week. You are entirely correct that unauthorized linking *should* not be considered copyright infringement. In some cases, where there may be consumer confusion, there might be trademark or unfair competition problems, but not copyright. I set out that analysis some time ago at http://elj.warwick.ac.uk/jilt/intprop/98_2burk/ Another helpful paper reaching the same conclusion, by Ed Cavazos and Coe F. Miles, can be found at http://www.richmond.edu/~jolt/v4i2/cavazos.html Despite the fairly clear logic against a finding of copyright liability, some courts have been sympathetic to these claims. This has been a source of ongoing controversy. Data aggregators, such as the crawler in the eBay case that was mentioned to you, raise several of the same issues. And, I assure you, there are people looking for ways to sue Tevo for copyright infringement for allowing viewers to skip television commercials (I have had the misfortune to meet some of them -- the potential litigants, that is, not the viewers). Please feel free to forward this to the list if you like. Regards, Dan L. Burk Julius E. Davis Professor of Law University of Minnesota