Google's thumbnails come under legal attack

Google has received the first major setback to the legality of their core technology. A judge in the district of California has ruled that the picture thumbnails on their image search service infringed on the copyright of a site that sells pornographic images called Perfect 10 (an interesting name for a porn site!).

Google had failed three of the four tests of the “fair use” defence, the judge ruled. Since the company sells adverts to run alongside its search results, the image search service does not fall under the “non-commercial” test, he wrote. Also, the “creative” nature of the images meant they should have protection, though this counted “only slightly” in favour of Perfect 10, he said. Finally, Google’s thumbnail-sized pictures had a direct impact on Perfect 10’s ability to make money from its images, since it had licensed a UK company to distribute similar-sized pictures to mobile ‘phones.

The only fair use defence on which Google prevailed was its argument that it had not produced more of Perfect 10’s images than was needed for the purposes of its search service.

This is a blow for Google. And they have other cases pending in the US on their use of thumbnails for books, news, and more. Let's hope this does not set too much dangerous precedent and the judge words the ruling narrowly enough so that Google's vital thumbnails when seraching do not become a thing of the past.

Even though I am a writer and founder of businessuncut, I believe that we have to be extremely careful not to hamper the growth of the Internet and freedom of information by protecting copyright of information too aggressively. If search engines have to pay to display information, the Internet will take a huge step backwards and the greatest losers will be all of us. Then the Internet will not fulfill it's huge potential as the information centre of choice for the global masses.