German ruling sanctions deep linking
27 July 2003
Germany’s highest court has ruled that bypassing the home pages of websites and linking directly to their content does not violate copyright and competition laws
Germany's highest court has ruled that bypassing the home pages of websites and linking directly to their content does not violate copyright and competition laws.
The long-awaited decision by the German Federal Supreme Court in favour of online search engine Paperboy on July 17 sets a precedent that confirms the legality of deep linking in Germany.
The decision in the case of publishing company Holtzbrinck against Paperboy is a victory for deep linking sites in Germany, such as Paperboy and NewsClub, which have been threatened with closure because of anti-deep linking rulings elsewhere in Europe, such as Denmark and the Netherlands.
"A sensible...
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