Fravia's Messageboard ~ Moderated
Tsk, Tsk
Thursday, 10-Jun-1999 07:43:28

" . . .The first enumerated right is the right to reproduce the work. The reproduction right is violated when a copy is made of the original work. According to the 1976 Act, a copy is a material object "in which a work is fixed by any method now known or later developed, and from which the work can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device." The link from A to B only contains the URL address of B. In
creating the link, the author of A has not reproduced any part of B except for B's URL. A URL is a "fact," and as such, it is not protected by copyright. One could argue that since the URL for B includes whatever name B's author gives to the document, it contains protected expression.
However, short phrases such as titles and names are generally not copyrightable. Thus, A has
not directly infringed B's reproduction right."

http://cyber.harvard.edu/metaschool/fisher/linking/linking/link1.html

w_b