TV Links was a user contributed online video directory for
television programmes, films, and
music videos. In a similar style to BitTorrent trackers such as The Pirate Bay, video content was not hosted by
TV Links. Instead, videos were hosted by third-party video sharing websites. The website was operated as a hobby by David Rock of Cheltenham, England.
On October 18, 2007, the website's servers, located in the Netherlands, were raided and shut down by Gloucestershire police in cooperation with the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) in response to complaints received from major US film studios about
TV Links. No official clarification was made to date as to why the website was shut down. Simultaneously, David Rock was arrested, and later released pending further investigation, without being charged with a crime. Although FACT initially stated that the raid was performed because of allegations of copyright infringement, it later stated that Rock was arrested for trademark infringement.
On October 18, 2007, owner David Rock was arrested by the Gloucestershire police in cooperation with the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), and the website was shut down.
Initial claims by FACT indicated the arrest was made due to offenses of facilitating copyright infringement. However, it was later made clear that the arrest was over a matter of possible trademark infringement.
In a statement issued by FACT following the events, local trading standards head Roger Marles, has implied that the website's update from hyperlinks to a streaming video player might have affected the shutdown. He stated that the arrest and shutdown were initiated because
TV Links allowed users "[to view] any one of a large number of films and television programmes directly via the website. This is illegal under UK copyright law."
Whilst arrested under Section 92 of the Trade Marks Act 1994, he has now been released "pending further investigation" with no charges filed against him. Section 92 has been used to prosecute illegal copiers of CDs and DVDs, but never in the absence of a physical storage medium. It is unclear whether the operation of
TV Links was actually a crime under UK law. In an interview, Rock stated that he would have not started the website if he had found anything in the laws of the country stating that what he was doing was illegal.