Studios accuse Google of benefiting from piracy: WSJ
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A group of major media companies has  accused Google Inc.  of benefiting from the sale of  pirated movies and providing business support to two Web sites  suspected of offering access to illegal film downloads, the  Wall Street Journal said on Monday.
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(InfoWorld) - Legal experts are split in their evaluation of Google's defense strategy in two copyright-infringement lawsuits, particularly regarding the company's arm-twisting attempts to extract confidential information from uninvolved competitors. Some view Google's tactics as aggressive, unusual and ultimately ineffective, while others see them as part of a fairly standard defense in copyright litigation. Google sent subpoenas to Amazon.com, Yahoo and Microsoft demanding they provide it with information about their book-scanning activities, a move that raised eyebrows because those companies are among its biggest rivals. Google plans to use this information in its defense in two lawsuits filed last year. The suits allege that Google's massive project to scan, make searchable and store digital copies of millions of copyrighted library books without permission from the copyright owner is illegal. Google is also scanning books in the public domain. Google argues that its scanning is protected under the fair use principle, which allows for limited use of copyright material, because it only displays text snippets of copyrighted books' content in response to queries in its Book Search service. That overall argument, along with the subpoena tactic, demonstrates Google is willing to mount an atypical and pugnacious defense, said Lee Bromberg, a partner at Bromberg & Sunstein LLP, a firm that specializes in intellectual property litigation. "This [subpoena action] isn't par for the course at all in this type of case," he said. With the subpoenas, Google is trying to argue that if its competitors are scanning books, it follows that Google is acting legally, according to Bromberg. "But I don't think it's evidence of that at all, and I think it's out of line for Google to do this," Bromberg said. This type of subpoena is usually used to get evidence from an uninvolved third party that may have relevant information about the litigation. For example, it would make sense for Google to subpoena information from one of its business partners, or from a partner of one of the plaintiffs, Bromberg said. "Those partners might possess documents that could be relevant to sorting out the issues between Google and the plaintiff publishers here. But that doesn't seem to be the case," Bromberg said. Wendy Seltzer, a Fellow at the Harvard University Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society and an expert on Internet law and intellectual property, said the subpoenas might be part of a more conventional defense, in which Google will try to prove that book-scanning isn't hurting copyright owners nor the publishing market. Google's ultimate goal will be to have the court say its activities are protected by the fair use principle, which allows for limited use of copyright material, she said. Already Yahoo and Amazon.com have refused to comply with the subpoenas and have indicated in court filings that they are determined to stand their ground against what they consider an inappropriate and overreaching request from Google. Microsoft declined to comment when asked how it has responded or plans to respond to the subpoena. What's clear is that the subpoena standoff could further complicate and lengthen an already complex case that, barring an unexpected settlement, could drag on for years. After the refusals from Yahoo and Amazon.com, the ball is in Google's court. Google has the option to file a motion with the court to compel its two rivals to comply with the subpoena request. If the court were to grant that motion to compel, Amazon.com and Yahoo would probably have a choice to escalate the matter to an appeals court. "That [the subpoena clash] in itself can become a protracted battle," said Sheldon Klein, an attorney specializing in intellectual property and a partner at Arent Fox PLLC in Washington, D.C. Google declined to answer specific questions, providing only a prepared statement via e-mail that characterized the subpoena and objection process as "a common part of ongoing litigation." It intends to speak with Yahoo and Amazon.com over their concerns, Google said. Amazon.com declined to comment on whether it is holding talks with Google, but Yahoo doesn't foresee much chance of arriving at some middle ground. "Google will quickly learn we're not interested in some lesser compromise position. Our position is that we're not going to produce documents in response to the subpoena," said Reggie Davis, who is associate general counsel at Yahoo and manages litigation for the company. Like Bromberg, Davis finds Google's subpoena action surprising and aggressive, in large part because Yahoo doesn't even have its own book-scanning project. Its activities in this area are limited to its participation in a collective effort known as the Open Content Alliance, which doesn't scan copyrighted books without permission from the copyright owner. "It seems to us that their approach is completely different from ours, so we're surprised they'd want to get information from us about our approach, which is to get permission before copying. And it seems to us to be completely irrelevant and not particularly helpful to Google's argument or justification for their approach," Davis said. The plaintiffs in the Book Search cases -- the Association of American Publishers (AAP), acting on behalf of five of its members, and the Authors Guild Inc. and three authors -- aren't the only ones questioning the copyright legality of a Google search service. Others are suing Google in the U.S. and abroad for similar reasons over its news, image and video search engines.
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Google Inc.  is confident its  popular video-sharing site YouTube and other Web services  Google offers have strong legal protections under current  copyright law, company attorneys said on Tuesday.
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Media companies including CBS Corp.,  Microsoft Corp., News Corp.'s Fox and MySpace units and others  have agreed to a set of guidelines aimed at protecting  copyrights online, the Wall Street Journal reported on  Thursday.
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By Jefferson Graham  LOS ANGELES -- Internet search giant Google is under fire from Hollywood, mostly about the many unlicensed clips available on its YouTube video-sharing site.
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Google Inc.  may be frustrated  in efforts to reach comprehensive deals with major media  companies such as NBC or Viacom Inc.  to put their  videos on YouTube, but it is signing up hundreds of smaller  media partners, The New York Times reported on Friday.
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Google Inc.  is working with  Dow Jones & Co. Inc. , Conde Nast, Sony BMG (6758.T)  Music Entertainment and other large content companies to  syndicate their video content on other Web sites, the New York  Times reported on Monday.
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Software giant Microsoft Tuesday launched a stinging attack on Google, accusing its Internet rival of riding roughshod over copyright in a rush to grab content for its own commercial benefit.
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By Elise AckermanSTAFF  Google Inc. is set to start filtering videos and other content on YouTube for copyrighted materials, taking a key step in helping the online video-sharing site comply with one of the biggest complaints it faces -- rampant piracy.
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(InfoWorld) - Google has scheduled an appeal for July 17 in itsÂ copyright dispute with Belgian newspaper publishers, although the two sides expect to request an extension while they try to resolve the conflict amicably, spokespeople for Google and the publishing group, Copiepresse, said on Tuesday. The court's schedule required Google to file its appeal 10 days ago, otherwise a ruling against it from February would have become permanent. But there will be no appeals hearing as such this month, and the two sides will merely ask the court for an extension while they continue their talks, said Catherine Anciaux, a legal advisor for Copiepresse. A Google spokeswoman concurred. "There will be no substantive hearing for several months," she said. Copiepresse, the publishing group representing Le Soir, Le Libre Belgique and other Belgian newspapers, sued Google last August for copyright infringement, arguing that it profits unfairly by posting snippets of its members' news stories on Google's Web sites without paying for their use. The Court of First Instance in Brussels sided with Copiepresse in September,Â ordering Google to removeÂ the Belgian Web sites from Google News and its main search engines, which it did. The court reaffirmed its decision in February. Google was also fined â¬25,000 ($34,000) for each day that it delayed removing the newspapers' content from its Web site. It has not yet paid any fines, which will be considered as part of the appeals process, the Google spokeswoman said. The two sides clearly hope to settle the matter out of court, however. They reached an initial agreement in May thatÂ allowed Google to begin linkingÂ to the newspapers from its main search engine again, although it still cannot list them inÂ Google News. Google maintains that linking to the content is legal and provides a useful service for the general public and the newspapers, because it drives traffic to their sites. Copiepresse has said it wants to be included in Google News but that it should be compensated, by an advertising revenue sharing agreement or in some other way. Â
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(InfoWorld) - Google Inc. sold advertising to two men who allegedly marketed an application designed to find and download pirated movies online, a business relationship that has angered big movie and TV studios, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The extent of Google's involvement with this allegedly rogue operation has been detailed in sworn depositions taken as part of an ongoing civil lawsuit major Hollywood studios filed against these two men in October 2005. The defendants said under oath that Google assigned them account representatives who assisted them with their Google ad campaigns, including offering them credit and suggesting they use keywords like "bootleg movie download" and "pirated" to promote their Web sites, the Journal reported. A Google employee "largely" backed up the statements from defendants Brandon Drury and Luke Sample, both residents of Missouri, the Journal reported, quoting anonymous sources familiar with the case, in which some depositions have been sealed. EasyDownloadCenter.com and TheDownloadPlace.com generated US$1.1 million in revenue between 2003 and 2005, and Google received $809,000 for advertising, the Journal reported. Upon learning that the defendants used Google to market their software, the plaintiffs, which include News Corp., Viacom International Inc., Sony Corp., NBC Universal, Time Warner Inc. and The Walt Disney Co., complained to the search engine company, according to the Journal. Google responded by holding a conference call with the media companies on Friday in which it pledged to remove certain ads the companies object to, create a list of approved advertisers and stop selling keywords meant to drive traffic to pirated material, the Journal reported. Google also committed to monitor keywords more closely and to train its ad sales team on avoiding selling those types of ads. The flap comes at a time when Google is trying to negotiate with large media companies over the use of their material on YouTube's video uploading and sharing site, which Google acquired last year for $1.65 billion. Those negotiations are proving tough, as evidenced by fiascoes like this month's decision by Viacom to demand that Google remove over 100,000 of its video clips from YouTube. Viacom, whose properties include MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Comedy Central and Paramount Pictures, gave up afterÂ months of negotiations, saying Google and YouTube proved "unwilling to come to a fair market agreement." EasyDownloadCenter.com and TheDownloadPlace.com, which are no longer operational, didn't host any movies. Instead, they sold an application for $29.95 designed to allegedly help users search for and download pirated movies from P-to-P (peer-to-peer) file sharing networks. The defendants dispute the allegations that they induced and facilitated piracy and are thus guilty of copyright infringement and unfair competition. Asked to comment about the Journal's report, a Google spokesman said via e-mail that Google forbids advertisers from using its ad platform to promote the sale of copyright infringing materials. "We are continually improving our systems to screen out ads that violate these policies," he wrote. Â
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LOS ANGELES, Nov 4  - Hollywood studios on Thursday launched a major new legal onslaught against online film piracy, announcing that they are suing people who illegally download movies from the Internet.
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SAN JOSE, Calif. _ For nearly a year, a legal document charges, Google employees aided a Missouri-based company that provided software and tech support to people who downloaded pirated software and movies.
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A French film company filed a lawsuit against Google in the Paris Commercial Court, charging the search giant with copyright infringement.
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(InfoWorld) - Google has agreed to post a court order against the company on its Belgian Web site, dodging a potential fine of â¬500,000 ($639,000) per day for not doing so. The court order stemmed from a lawsuit filed by a group of Belgian publications that accused Google of infringing their copyrights by posting articles on its Google News Web site without their permission. The order, issued Sept. 5, required Google to stop posting stories from the Belgian papers. It was also required to post a copy of the court's order on its Web site for five days. Google removed the stories in mid-September but resisted posting the order, arguing that the dispute had already been widely publicized in the press. On Friday it lost an appeal against the order to post the ruling, the Associated Press reported. Google didn't immediately return calls seeking comment. The order now appears at www.Google.be and on the Belgian Google News Web site. The news site now features articles from Dutch and other international news outlets. Google will appeal the entire ruling at a hearing scheduled for late November, according to the Associated Press story. Google News includes headlines and brief summaries of news articles. Users click on a story link to be taken to the publication's Web site, where they can read the full article. This isn't the first time Google has butted heads with the news media. The French news agency Agence France Presse has anÂ ongoing lawsuitÂ that accuses Google of copyright violation for including its stories on Google News without subscribing to the AFP service. Google has also raised theÂ ire of some book publishersÂ for its Google Book Search offering, which allows visitors to view parts of books online. Groups representing publishers have filed lawsuits arguing that Google must ask for permission before scanning and displaying the contents of the books.
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Google Inc. is working with Dow Jones & Co. Inc., Conde Nast, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and other large content companies to syndicate their video content on other Web sites, the New York Times reported on Monday.
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â¢ 2004-11-05 â¢ Major Hollywood studios have recently announced that they would sue people who illegally download movies from the Internet.