The U.S government continues to take strong measures against persons accused of illegally making copyrighted material available on the Internet.  In a recent example, a Texas resident named Bryan McCarthy was arrested for criminal copyright infringement following an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement division, and he now faces five years in jail for posting streaming copyrighted videos of live sporting events on his web site. McCarthy operated www.channelsurfing.net – a domain name that was seized by the government – which did not directly host any content itself, but which instead embedded content from other sites. Prosecutors allege McCarthy sold advertising on his web site and profited from the copyrighted material, earning approximately $90,000.00.

Some critics claim that such charges do not comport with U.S. legal requirements that some kind of “copying” must occur in order to support a claim for copyright infringement. (It appears that no videos were hosted directly from any computers owned or controlled by Mr. McCarthy.) Additionally, some argue the seizure of domain names under such circumstances has questionable legal support and could implicate free speech rights if the associated sites are not directly distributing copyrighted material.

Web site owners engaging in posting or embedding material that may be copyrighted must be vigilant in preventing the use of their sites for illegal activity. If in doubt about the use of copyrighted materials, it is advisable to seek legal counsel.