San Francisco - An Australian federal court has upheld a lower court's ruling that found linking to unauthorized MP3 files on third-party websites can be illegal, CNET News.com reported.

Universal Music Australia and other labels sued Stephen Cooper in 2004, arguing that his MP3s4free.net site, which posted links to copyrighted MP3s but did not itself host any copyrighted music, was in violation of Aussie copyright laws. The three-judge panel rejected Cooper's argument that his site was no different than Google, as he deliberately set up a site that linked to copyrighted files, and also enabled others to add similar links.

"A principal purpose of the Web site was to enable infringing copies of the downloaded sound recordings to be made," Judge Susan Kenny wrote in her opinion. "The fact that the Web site also carried a warning that some downloading could be illegal did not lessen the force of the invitation."

The judges also found the companies that hosted Cooper's site liable, as they sold ads on MP3s4free.net instead of compelling Cooper to shut it down.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/yg9k8e (CNET)
http://www.mp3s4free.net