By Richard Koman for SiliconValleyWatcher

An Australian judge has convicted a man of copyright infringement for hyperlinking from his site to sites containing copyright MP3s, ZDNet Australia reports.

While on the surface, the act of linking to a file would hardly seem an infringing offense, in all liklihood the scale of the linking, the name of his site - mp3s4free, and the fact that he was profiting from the arrangement, all add up to the conclusion that there's not a lot of difference between linking and hosting.

The record companies' success down under may lead to similar suits in the States.

Meanwhile, the Register reports that US legal music downloads are up 187% from a year ago, probably an effect of Apple's success in marketing the iTunes Music Store to its gobs of iPod customers, not a reflection of falling illegal downloads. The Register notes CD sales have fallen precipitously, but there is not way that can be laid squarely at the feet of illegal downloading.

The tepid economy and generally uninteresting offerings from the music business are at least as much to blame, IMO. One indirect way downloads may have impacted the drop though: people are starting to get the idea that $20 for a CD from a mass market artist is not exactly a good deal.