Police have confirmed that a man at the centre of an investigation into the website TV-Links.co.uk was arrested under section 92 of the Trade Mark Act, "on suspicion of supplying property with a registered trademark, without permission".
TV-Links.co.uk was a website that contained a list of television programs , and links to video streaming sites such as Youtube and GoogleVideo (much the same place!). One clicking on the link a user would be able to watch a low quality version of the TV show.
Why is this of concern to domainers? Well, if the arrest and charge are seen through and result in conviction it could put all forms of internet use at thread. Domainers often are the ones with generic domain names with several parties owning the term in various TM classes, likewise they often create alot of unique ‘mashed up’ content. Hopefully every page we have been putting up has been checked for copyright issues!
As one person put it "If this site is illegal then any site that displays links that features trademarked names (by anyone other than the trademark holder) is surely also illegal?" Theoretically this could result in affiliate websites, ppc campaigns and all form of contact with trademarked terms and images causing potential issues.