Texas court bans deep linking
As best I can tell from having followed this case, it really did concern nothing more than direct links to audio files. In which case the ruling is absolutely preposterous.
Judge Lindsay, if you ever read this I’d like to propose an analogy.
Imagine that you go to the grocery store to buy a gallon of milk. You’ve never been to this particular store, so you don’t know where the milk is; naturally, you ask one of the employees. He says, “oh, sure, let me get Mike from Dairy to help you. But first let me tell you about this great new spaghetti sauce we’ve got…”
After a short pitch for spaghetti sauce, he gets Mike. You ask Mike where the milk is, and he says, “oh, sure, I’ll get Debbie — she’s in charge of milk — to help you. While we’re waiting for her, let me take a moment to tell you about this delicious ice cream we’re running a special on…”
And so it goes. After about ten minutes of pitches for various things, someone finally puts a gallon of milk in your hand and sends you on your way.
Now imagine if there’d been someone standing outside as you were coming in, and you’d said, “excuse me, but I’ve never been in this store before; do you know where they keep the milk?” And this magical person said, “sure, it’s on aisle 6, towards the back.” You walk in, go straight to the right place, and get your milk.
Judge Lindsay, if linking directly to an audio file is to be considered copyright infringement and “irreparable harm” to a business in your jurisdiction, then you’d better be prepared to haul that good Samaritan in for stealing from the grocery store and doing grievous harm to its business.
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