Volume IV

Issue : 2: January 26, 2006

• Importation Held to Infringe Copyright Despite the Absence of Initial Infringement
• Nevada Court Rules Google Cache Feature Constitutes "Fair Use"
• Google Resists U.S. Government Motion to Compel Disclosure of Search Information
• Yahoo Loses Nazi Memorabilia Free Speech Case
• Ontario Court Finds Collaboration Necessary to Facilitate Document Production in the Electronic Age
• U.K. Plans to Host Global Online Gambling Summit
• Korea Will Not Prosecute Personal Downloaders
• Australian Online Bookie First to Get Licence
• Utah Fines B.C. Based Pornography Website
• California Court of Appeal Upholds Microsoft Class Action Settlement
• Alberta Court of Appeal Asserts that Corporations Cannot Hide Behind Privacy Laws
• U.S. Patent Office Upholds Microsofts File System Patents
• Sony Obtains $6 Million in Statutory Damages for Mod Chip Sales

Home > Volume IV > Issue 2: January 26, 2006 > Nevada Court Rules Google Cache Feature Constitutes "Fair Use"

Nevada Court Rules Google Cache Feature Constitutes "Fair Use"

A federal district court in Nevada has rejected the claim that Google’s Cache feature violates copyright law, a decision which could impact Google’s claims of “fair use” in its Book Search (formerly called Library) project. Blake Field, an author and attorney, initiated the lawsuit against Google after the search engine automatically copied and cached a story he posted on his website. Google’s stance was that its Google Cache feature, a feature which enables Google users to link to an archival copy of websites indexed by Google, does not violate copyright law.

The court granted summary judgment in favour of Google on four independent grounds:

• Serving a webpage from the Google Cache does not constitute direct infringement, because it results from automated, non-volitional activity by Google servers (Field did not allege infringement on the basis of the making of the initial copy by the Googlebot);
• Field's conduct (failure to set a "no archive" metatag; posting "allow all" robot.txt header) indicated that he impliedly licensed search engines to archive his web page;
• The Google Cache is a “fair use”; and
• The Google Cache qualifies for the DMCA's 512(b) caching "safe harbor" for online service providers.

The decision contains cogent findings that could have important consequences for the search engine industry, RSS publishing and the Google Book Search (formerly called Library) project, a project in which Google has continually claimed its work was a fair use of copyrighted works despite lawsuits brought against it by book publishers claiming copyright infringement. The ruling clarifies the legal status of several common search engine practices and, as a result, could influence future court cases such as those initiated over the Google Book Search (formerly called Library) project.

For a copy of the decision, please visit:

http://www.eff.org/IP/blake_v_google/google_nevada_order.pd f