One more case in point.

More than enough material is available on the web for anyone interested in further examining this issue. It has generated a great deal of debate, and rather logically the web archives much of it. The Open Directory Project houses a lenghty page of links on linking law that examine numerous aspects of the issue, and anyone with time on his or her hands can find more than enough there.

The jury is still, of course, out, but a large body of case material and commentary has been accumulating. One well-known case was that of Ticketmaster vs. Ticket.com. In that case the judge ruled (in March of 2000):

Hyperlinking does not itself involve a violation of the Copyright Act. There is no deception in what is happening. This is analogous to using a library's card index to get reference to particular items, albeit faster and more efficiently."

In other words, according to the article from which that quote is cribbed, we're free to link. On the other hand, another review of the same decision doesn't see the outcome in quite such an open and shut manner:

"I certainly don't think that this is a conclusive decision that says 'linking is O.K.,' which a number of people have characterized it as," said Jessica R. Friedman, a lawyer with Reboul, MacMurray, Hewitt, Maynard & Kristol in New York who specializes in intellectual property and the Internet.

And the bottom line? Obviously, it's a matter of opinion, but it seems to me that the availability, the ubiquitity, of the technology will exert its own influence, and the law will have to find some way of recognizing deep linking not only as a common, but as a legitimate practice.

Go to: How Deep is My Linking?