In Spain they illegalised links to infringing content (mostly movie/music downloads) by creating a "Commission of experts" which would rule on takedowns. The reason for this, of course, is that judges and courts were deeming hyperlinks were legal.
If you can read Spanish, google "Sinde-Wert jueces". This one is good: http://www.eldiario.es/zonacritica/ComisionSinde-jueces_6_16... (its author is David Bravo, a copyright lawyer who's recently been elected to Spanish Parliament, and one of the most vocal personalities on copyright in Spain).
However in this case I believe it centered on snippets of the news content itself, not only a link.