Let's say there is this site that hosts illegal content. Would linking to it on my own website (USA Based) be illegal or legal?
The link would be up temporarily, then removed once the event has ended.
I've struggled to find a definitive answer to this.
As a general rule, linking to a website (without hosting it within a frame at your own site) almost never gives rise to legal liability. See, e.g., Perfect 10, Inc. v. Google, Inc., 508 F.3d 1146 (9th Cir. 2007). Similarly, according to this source: "No court has ever found that deep linking to another website constitutes copyright or trademark infringement."
The same source cautions, however, that: "Contributory copyright infringement occurs by "intentionally inducing or encouraging direct infringement" of a copyrighted work. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd, 545 U.S. 913 (2005)." It goes on to explain that:
Fred vonLohman gives the following rules of thumb to help avoid contributory copyright infringement (specifically with reference to embedding videos):"(1) don't embed videos that are obviously infringing, and (2) consider removing embedded videos once you've been notified by a copyright owner that they are infringing."
Relatedly, you may be able to protect yourself against claims of contributory copyright infringement by complying with the notice-and-takedown procedures of the DMCA.
The exception to the rule would be when the link is an act in furtherance of a larger conspiracy in which the person posting the link plays a part.
For example, suppose that you enter into an SEO (search engine optimization) partnership with a firm that streams illegal child pornography on a pay per view or advertising revenue basis, and you agree to post links to the illegal site in exchange for money compensation as part of an overall plan to promote the illegal content. In that circumstance, you could have criminal and civil liability for the underlying illegal conduct as a co-conspirator with the operator of the site engaged in illegal streaming.
On the other hand, if you are a random third-party who, with no communication or coordinating with the website streaming the illegal content, who posts a link to its existence gratuitously, this would not give rise to civil or criminal liability.
It isn't entirely clear, however, that contributory copyright infringement needs to rise to the level of full on civil or criminal conspiracy to give rise to liability if you are well aware of the infringement, although there are basically no cases actually imposing liability in that very bare bones fact pattern.
