UK SEO news - Legal and business rows rage over copyright and free content

Fierce debate and argument is underway on the web about content and copyright among leading legal figures, online and search engine optimisation (SEO) consultants, and media commentators.

A renowned judge in the USA is claiming that the newspaper business is being killed off by links and link-building on the web.

Judge Richard Posner is apparently complaining in his blog that, "...online providers of news who are not affiliated with a newspaper can provide links to newspaper websites and paraphrase articles in newspapers, in neither case being required to compensate the newspaper."

E-Consultancy VP Rebecca Lieb pointed out the judge's opinions were not a legal mandate but she warned he is highly influential.

"Which is why, all legal precedents to the contrary, it's important to sit up, take notice, and dispel these grotesquely misguided opinions before they threaten to become something more substantial and ominous," she said.

In other media, leading bloggers and other pundits discussed and disputed the issue of free content. The likes of marketing guru Seth Godin and author Malcolm Gladwell argued points about monetising the web.

And in his blog, online consultant Jason Preston makes a highly relevant point, saying, "If we are to have a digital based economy (and this, I think, is the inevitable truth), then we need to have more digital goods that cost money, not more digital goods that are free."

Overall, it is interesting to see how online issues such as these are earning a place on the global news agenda - with Internet, new media and SEO consultants, and other experts becoming increasingly major players in unfolding commercial developments that affect the world.