Discussion:
I'm the administrator for a bulletin board on cigars. We also have a general discussion forum and an "uncensored" forum. Lately, many members of the board have been asking if they can post or link to pornographic images from other sites.
Can they without violating copyrights? What if they have downloaded images and are hosting them on their own server and then linking to them on my board? Am I responsible for any copyright violations or are they? Or both?
Answer:
Am I responsible for any copyright violations or are they? Or both? Potentially both. The case law is not really settled in this particular area, but there are arguments that can be made that merely "linking" to infringing materials is insufficient to give rise to contributory or vicarious liability, and there are arguments that can be made that linking IS sufficient.
So, it all depends on how much of a risk-taker you are. Having the links on your site POTENTIALLY exposes you to liability. Further, if you do any moderation on your board, that will increase the likelihood of you getting in trouble, because if you moderate but don't remove links to potentially infringing materials, you are in a way condoning the linking, and therefore making it more ikely that you could be found liable for contributory or vicarious infringement.