diff --git a/home/ims/ims_import.php b/home/ims/ims_import.php
index 57ba69c0..c31a9ade 100644
--- a/home/ims/ims_import.php
+++ b/home/ims/ims_import.php
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@
 require_once(TR_INCLUDE_PATH.'classes/DAO/TestsQuestionsAssocDAO.class.php');
 require_once(TR_INCLUDE_PATH.'classes/DAO/ContentTestsAssocDAO.class.php');
 require_once(TR_INCLUDE_PATH.'classes/FileUtility.class.php'); /* for clr_dir() and preImportCallBack and dirsize() */
+require_once(TR_INCLUDE_PATH.'classes/HTTPRequest.class.php'); /* for importing from remote servers that use Cookies and/or redirection */
 
 require_once(TR_INCLUDE_PATH.'lib/pclzip.lib.php');
 require_once(TR_INCLUDE_PATH.'lib/pclzip_callback.lib.php');
@@ -808,7 +809,9 @@ function glossaryCharacterData($parser, $data){
 }
 
 if (isset($_REQUEST['url']) && ($_REQUEST['url'] != 'http://') ) {
-	if ($content = @file_get_contents($_REQUEST['url'])) {
+	$http_req = new HTTPRequest($_REQUEST['url'], array());
+	$content = $http_req->DownloadToString();
+	if (!$http_req->_errno && $content) {
 		$filename = substr(time(), -6). '.zip';
 		$full_filename = TR_CONTENT_DIR . $filename;
 
@@ -822,7 +825,10 @@ function glossaryCharacterData($parser, $data){
 			exit;
 		}
 		fclose($fp);
-	}	
+	}
+	else {
+		$msg->addError(array('INVALID_INPUT', '"'.$_REQUEST['url'] . '" HTTPRequest error ' . $http_req->_errstr));
+	}
 	$_FILES['file']['name']     = $filename;
 	$_FILES['file']['tmp_name'] = $full_filename;
 	$_FILES['file']['size']     = strlen($content);
@@ -1445,4 +1451,4 @@ function glossaryCharacterData($parser, $data){
 }
 exit;
 
-?>
\ No newline at end of file
+?>
diff --git a/include/classes/HTTPRequest.class.php b/include/classes/HTTPRequest.class.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1be21562
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/classes/HTTPRequest.class.php
@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+<?php
+# Simple class to fetch a HTTP URL. Supports "Location:"-redirections. Useful for servers with allow_url_fopen=false. Works with SSL-secured hosts.
+# From http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.fopen.php#58099
+# Updated by TJ <linux@tjworld.net> to support cookies
+# usage:
+# $r = new HTTPRequest('http://www.example.com', $cookie_array);
+# echo $r->DownloadToString();
+
+class HTTPRequest
+{
+    var $_fp;        // HTTP socket
+    var $_url;        // full URL
+    var $_host;        // HTTP host
+    var $_protocol;    // protocol (HTTP/HTTPS)
+    var $_uri;        // request URI
+    var $_port;        // port
+    var $_cookies = array();    // array of cookies
+    var $_errstr = '';
+    var $_errno = 0;
+
+    // scan url
+    function _scan_url()
+    {
+        $req = $this->_url;
+
+        $pos = strpos($req, '://');
+        $this->_protocol = strtolower(substr($req, 0, $pos));
+
+        $req = substr($req, $pos+3);
+        $pos = strpos($req, '/');
+        if($pos === false)
+            $pos = strlen($req);
+        $host = substr($req, 0, $pos);
+
+        if(strpos($host, ':') !== false)
+        {
+            list($this->_host, $this->_port) = explode(':', $host);
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            $this->_host = $host;
+            $this->_port = ($this->_protocol == 'https') ? 443 : 80;
+        }
+
+        $this->_uri = substr($req, $pos);
+        if($this->_uri == '')
+            $this->_uri = '/';
+    }
+
+    // constructor
+    function HTTPRequest($url, $cookies)
+    {
+        $this->_url = $url;
+        $this->_scan_url();
+        $this->_cookies = $cookies;
+    }
+
+    // download URL to string
+    function DownloadToString()
+    {
+        $crlf = "\r\n";
+
+        // generate request
+        $req = 'GET ' . $this->_uri . ' HTTP/1.0' . $crlf
+            .  'Host: ' . $this->_host . $crlf;
+
+        // add cookies if any exist
+        if(count($this->_cookies)) {
+            $req .= "Cookie: ";
+            foreach($this->_cookies as $key => $value) {
+               $req .= $key . "=" . $value . "; ";
+            }
+            $req .= $crlf;
+        }
+        $req .=  $crlf;
+
+        // fetch
+        try {
+            $this->_fp = fsockopen(($this->_protocol == 'https' ? 'ssl://' : '') . $this->_host,
+                                   $this->_port, $this->_errorno, $this->_errstr);
+            if($this->_fp) {
+                fwrite($this->_fp, $req);
+                $response = '';
+                while(is_resource($this->_fp) && $this->_fp && !feof($this->_fp))
+                    $response .= fread($this->_fp, 1024);
+                fclose($this->_fp);
+
+                // split header and body
+                $pos = strpos($response, $crlf . $crlf);
+                if($pos === false)
+                    return($response);
+                $header = substr($response, 0, $pos);
+                $body = substr($response, $pos + 2 * strlen($crlf));
+
+                // parse headers
+                $headers = array();
+                $lines = explode($crlf, $header);
+                foreach($lines as $line) {
+                    if(($pos = strpos($line, ':')) !== false) {
+                        $key = strtolower(trim(substr($line, 0, $pos)));
+                        $value = trim(substr($line, $pos+1));
+                        $headers[$key] = $value;
+                        if(strcmp($key, "set-cookie") == 0) {
+                            if(($pos = strpos($value, '=')) !== false) {
+                                $key = trim(substr($value, 0, $pos));
+                                $value = trim(substr($value, $pos+1));
+                                $this->_cookies[$key] = $value;
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+
+                // redirection?
+                if(isset($headers['location']))
+                {
+                    $http = new HTTPRequest($headers['location'], $this->_cookies);
+                    return($http->DownloadToString());
+                }
+                else
+                {
+                    return($body);
+                }
+            }
+            else {
+                return(FALSE);
+            }
+        } catch (Exception $exception) {
+            $this->_errstr = $exception->getMessage();
+            $this->_errno  = $exception->getCode();
+            return(FALSE);
+        }
+    }
+}
+?>