The Federal Court of Canada has ruled that providing an ‘inline link’ to a copyright work on the copyright owner’s website is not an infringement of copyright.

The court recognised that the provision of the link amounts to a “communication of the work by telecommunication”, which is an act within the exclusive rights of the copyright owner. However, the provision of the link does not amount to infringement where the linked-to work was posted by the copyright owner. This is because the original act of posting the work “authorized” the communication that occurred as a result of the hyperlink.