Author Puts Article Online, Insists That Due To Copyright, You Cannot Link To It

from the that'll-work dept

BeeAitch points us to yet another misunderstanding of copyright law, though this one is more amusing than anything else. It comes from an article from 2005 written by one Dr. T. Matthew Ciolek, from Australian National University, and it's apparently about "trade routes." Honestly, it doesn't matter what the article is about. What matters is that at the very top, it says:

Note: due to copyright restrictions this page may not be linked from other online pages.

Then, at the very bottom, it says:

Copyright (c) 2005 by Encyclopedia of Globalization. Grolier Academic. All rights reserved. This page may not be linked from other online pages.

And, in neither case is that accurate. You absolutely can link to it as I have just now (and above) and (what the hell) will do again (just for fun). Sorry Dr. T. Matthew Ciolek, that's just not how copyright works. You are free to block anyone who comes via referrals from other sites (or block referrals from this site specifically). You're also free not to post your content online, or to bar others from republishing it (recognizing certain legal exemptions). But, nothing in copyright law says that you can order people not to link to your work.

Filed Under: copyright, links, t. matthew ciolek