EFF: Adult Website Lawsuit Threatens Google Image Search

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

For Immediate Release: Thursday, October 13, 2005

Contact:

Jason Schultz
   Staff Attorney
   Electronic Frontier Foundation
   jason@eff.org
   +1 415 436-9333 x112

Adult Website Lawsuit Threatens Google Image Search

Injunction Could Shut Down Popular Service

Los Angeles - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
filed a brief Wednesday in support of Google Image Search,
arguing that a federal district court should reject a
request for a preliminary injunction that could shut the
service down.

In its lawsuit, adult entertainment website Perfect 10
claims that Google violates its copyrights by making and
delivering thumbnail images of its photos as Internet
search results. In its friend-of-the-court brief, EFF shows
that these copies are a well-established fair use of
digital images and they help people find and use the works
for informational and educational endeavors.

"Google Image Search helps millions of people locate and
learn about information on the web every day," said Jason
Schultz, EFF staff attorney. "We're concerned that the
public will lose out if Perfect 10 succeeds in shutting it
down."

Perfect 10 argues that a preliminary injunction is
justified because Google is violating its right to
reproduce, distribute, and display its copyrighted work.
But there is a long tradition in fair use that certain
kinds of copies are socially useful, even without
permission of the author.  Courts have held that copies are
a legal intermediate step to making non-infringing uses of
the copyrighted work--for example in teaching, education,
and news reporting.

Thumbnails created by Google Image Search allow users to
identify information they are looking for online and then
access that information--much like an electronic card
catalog.  As certain information about images can only be
conveyed visually, there is no other feasible way to
provide image search on the Internet than capturing images,
transforming them into thumbnails, and then displaying them
on a search results page for users.

While the images provided by Perfect 10 may have limited
academic application, the ramifications of its lawsuit
could have a huge impact on educational research.

"Without the right to make legal copies, Google Image
Search wouldn't be able to help you find a picture of
Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Lincoln Memorial, for
example," said Schultz.

A hearing in this case is set for November 7, 2005.

For the full text of the brief:
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/Perfect10_v_Google/EFF_ami...

For this release:
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2005_10.php#004058

About EFF

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
liberties organization working to protect rights in the
digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and
challenges industry and government to support free
expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported
organization and maintains one of the most linked-to
websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/


     -end-

_______________________________________________
presslist mailing list
https://falcon.eff.org/mailman/listinfo/presslist