Number: RL33810
Title: Internet Search Engines: Copyright's "Fair Use" in Reproduction and Public Display Rights
Authors: Robin Jeweler and Brian T. Yeh, American Law Division 
Abstract: Hyperlinking, in-line linking, caching, framing, thumbnails. Terms that describe Internet functionality pose interpretative challenges for the courts as they determine how these activities relate to a copyright holder's traditional right to control reproduction, display, and distribution of protected works. At issue is whether basic operation of the Internet, in some cases, constitutes or facilitates copyright infringement. If so, is the activity is a "fair use" protected by the Copyright Act? These issues frequently implicate search engines, which scan the web to allow users to find posted content. Both the posted content and the end-use thereof may be legitimate or infringing. In 2003, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corp., which held that a search engine's online display of protected "thumbnail" images was a fair use of copyright protected work. More recently, courts have considered an Internet search engine's caching, linking, and the display of thumbnails in a context other than that approved in Kelly. In Field v. Google, a U.S. district court found that Google's system of displaying cached images did not infringe the content owner's copyright. And in Perfect 10 v. Amazon.com Inc., the Ninth Circuit reconsidered issues relating to a search engine's practice using thumbnail images, inline linking, and framing, finding the uses to be noninfringing.
Pages: 14
Date: January 28, 2008