Google Seeks Ruling on Copyright ‘Infringing’ Search Results

The copyright debate is shaping up the web in more ways than we realize and increasing demands from record labels, movie studios and other content creators threaten to severely change the way we use the web, for the worse, but also other aspects of our lives. Of course, the content creators do have a point, but their all-out attack, their refusal to change and adapt coupled with the increasing sway they have over politicians don’t bode well.

A move that might prove a lot more powerful than it would seem comes from an unlikely source, Google. The search company has filed for a judgment that it doesn’t violate copyright just by linking to a website or file that might be infringing. If it were to succeed, it would set a powerful precedent, which could create a safe harbor for search engines.

What’s interesting, but perhaps not that surprising, is what prompted Google to act. Both Google and Microsoft were sued by a very small indie label last year over the fact that their search engines returned results linking to pages on RapidShare that hosted infringing files. The label was on very shaky ground from a legal standpoint, but there were plenty of ‘surprising’ results in cases involving copyright infringement in the past.

Luckily, the label soon realized that it didn’t really have that much to stand on and dismissed the lawsuit. However, it warned that it would refile once it got a stronger case. Rather than wait for that to happen, Google has now filed a complaint for declaratory relief. Basically, it wants a court to rule that the label has no case and that it can’t attack Google on these grounds.

If Google can get a judge to agree, it could be an interesting precedent. Large search engines have proven pretty much safe from copyright lawsuits. That’s because it would be hard to make anyone understand how a link to a page that might link to files that are infringing would be in itself infringing. Yet, that’s exactly the same logic that copyright owners have used against BitTorrent indexers or mp3 search engines.