Ludicrous

From our "this is truly bizarre and misguided" department, I bring you news from the National Newspapers of Ireland:

National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI), which represents 16 of the most popular national papers, said it believed "that the display and transmission of links does constitute an infringement of copyright" under current Irish law.

...

The row was sparked by the revelation that Women's Aid, a charity combatting domestic violence, had been told by an NNI subsidiary that it must pay 300 euros ($400) to display up to five links to newspaper articles on its website.

What could NNI possibly be thinking? By linking to Irish newspaper websites, Women's Aid is increasing traffic to those websites and increasing the advertising revenue they can attract.

Bizzarre and truly misguided.

Hat tip: Ferdinand van Prondzynski

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• Linking to newspaper websites for profit needs licence, says NNI (independent.ie)
• Update: Irish Newspapers Will Now Be Ignored (eogn.com)
• National Newspapers of Ireland outlines position on use of hyperlinks (siliconrepublic.com)
• Irish Newspaper Collective Wants to Charge License Fees for Links (the-digital-reader.com)
• Ireland copyright battle: Newspapers demand $400 for sharing links (rt.com)
• That Link You Just Posted Could Cost You 300 Euros (tech.slashdot.org)
• Irish newspapers and the battle to control online content (guardian.co.uk)