NEWS UK man jailed for four years over linking website


A British man has been sentenced to four years in prison for operating a website that indexed links to pirated films and TV shows.


Anthon Vickerman, who owned the site surſthechannel.com, was charged with two counts of conspiracy to defraud—but not copyright infringement. Te site connected users to legal and illegal material across the Internet, but did not host any files.


He is the first British man to be jailed in the UK for a website that linked to illegal copies of films and TV shows.


“Tis case conclusively shows that running a website that deliberately sets out to direct users to illegal copies of films and TV shows will result in a criminal conviction,” said Kieron Sharp, director general at the Federation Against Copyright Teſt (FACT), which instigated the private prosecution of Vickerman.


But the decision has been labelled “deeply concerning, inappropriate and disproportionate” by Loz Kaye, leader of the Pirate Party UK. “A four-year prison sentence is twice the maximum that could have been handed down if Vickerman


had been charged with online copyright infringement.”


Vickerman set up the website in 2007 and, by 2009, it was reportedly receiving 400,000 visitors daily and generating around £300,000 a year. On June 27, 2012, Newcastle Crown Court found him guilty of conspiracy to defraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. He was sentenced on August 14.


Conspiracy to defraud requires at least two parties to deprive someone of something belonging to someone else. Vickerman’s wife had originally been charged alongside him, but the jury found her not guilty.


“FACT may have opted for this charge rather than copyright infringement (maximum two years in prison) because of its longer sentence,” said Mark Dennis, media lawyer at Taylor Wessing. “Given the substantial revenues generated by surſthechannel’s unlawful activities, FACT no doubt wanted to use this case as a deterrent to others.”


Te decision follows two similar cases in which the accused were both found not guilty of conspiracy


to defraud. In 2010, the operators of two separate linking sites, Oink and Tv-links, were cleared of the offence.


But Dennis said linking websites are not necessarily immune from liability, even if they do not host content themselves or


directly facilitate file-


sharing. “Linking websites are at risk of liability for authorising infringement or making the copyright content available, particularly if it appears that piracy is at the core of their business models,” he said.


He said although this case may deter others from operating similar sites, they may simply relocate to jurisdictions “perceived to be immune from prosecution”.


Te case reemphasises that copyright owners are willing to pursue the owners of linking sites, and not just file-sharing sites, in the criminal courts. Earlier this year, a court ruled that British student Richard O’Dwyer can be extradited to the US on copyright infringement charges. His website, Tvshack, hosted links to other sites in the same way as Vickerman’s. It is unclear how, if it all, this case will affect O’Dwyer’s appeal, which is due to begin in October 2012. 


www.worldipreview.com


World Intellectual Property Review September/October 2012


15


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