Manhattan judge rejects 'server test' for internet copyright infringement

> In his decision denying Sinclair's motion to dismiss, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff split from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on its controversial server test, also known as the server rule, that says a website can only infringe a copyright by displaying an image if it also stores a copy on its server, finding the rule contradicts the Copyright Act.

> "Proponents of the server rule suggest that a contrary rule would impose far-reaching and ruinous liability, supposedly grinding the internet to a halt," Rakoff said. "These speculations seem farfetched, but are, in any case, just speculations."

Linking and transclusion are core features of hypertext system, so yes, deviating from this 'server rule' could have significant ramifications for how the Web works.

If copyright holders don't want third parties linking to or transcluding (via iframes and embeds) their content, they can host it on their own servers and use access control.

It will be interesting to see if this is pursued rather than settled. Worth keeping an eye on because the 2nd and 9th circuit are the major players in copyright.