Anton Vickerman

Anton Vickerman is a British disc jockey and website operator. He was the operator of Surfthechannel.com, a link site. He was sentenced to four years in jail following a privately funded legal campaign after British public prosecutors refused to try him. It has been called the first high-profile successful prosecution for the film industry.

Biography Anton Vickerman lived in Gateshead, United Kingdom. He had previously worked as DJ in England and then on the Spanish island of Tenerife. He returned to England in 2001.

SurftheChannel.com Surfthechannel.com was a popular link website for people seeking TV shows and movies. It had over 400,000 visitors a day. It was described as more popular than Facebook, In 2007, FACT and the British police shuttered TV Links, a linking website that contained a video directory for television programs, films, and music videos. Owner David Rock was arrested for offences of facilitating copyright infringement, even though they were later changed to trademark infringement. David Rock was released without trial. Under private prosecution, the prosecuting party must bear all costs of the prosecution. The case was delayed due to applications for dismissal, disclosure, a stay of indictment over abuse of process, and for the DPP to take over the case. Ari Alibhai prosecuted the case.

Kieron Sharp, of the Federation Against Copyright Theft, said: "Let's be clear, this is fraud and about the jobs of people who service the film industry, not one or two highly-paid actors."

Another link site, UKNova TV, was sent a cease and desist letter from FACT and subsequently scaled back its operations and prevented users from sharing links, in the wake of Vickerman's conviction.