Google has come under fire again from copyright owners, this time from a different angle. Adult publisher Perfect 10 filed a US court complaint in 2004 accusing Google of infringement of its copyright through the Google image search facility.
Perfect 10 claimed that: (i) the thumbnail images stored by Google on its servers were an infringement and not fair use, partly as they potentially deprived Perfect 10 of revenue through sale of the thumbnail sized images for use on portable devices, such as mobile phones; and (ii) that the display by Google (albeit in a frame) of the full sized images in their original context within third party web sites were an infringement by Google where those web sites themselves contained infringing copies of Perfect 10's images.
Whilst not a final judgment, the US ruling found that Google was not liable for the framed web site content, but the thumbnails stored on Google's servers were an infringement that did not fall within the "fair use" exemption. On this basis the Court has allowed the parties until 8 March to propose a form of injunction preventing the use by Google of the thumbnail images.
Google has indicated that it believes the ruling will have no impact on the majority of its searching services.
The 'fair use' provisions on which Google attempted to rely in the US are not mirrored in UK legislation, and it will be interesting to watch the result if similar cases are brought against search engines by publishers in the UK courts.
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