Judge Rejects Google's Attempt to DMCA Its Way Out of Being Scraped

A federal judge dismissed Google's lawsuit against SerpAPI that accused the company of violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's anti-circumvention provisions by scraping search results. The court ruled that Google's technological protection measure, called SearchGuard, controls access to search results regardless of whether they contain copyrighted material. The judge agreed with SerpAPI that the DMCA does not apply where the work controlled by a technological measure is not protected under the Copyright Act. Google alleged that SearchGuard prevents unauthorized automated access to search results, which are compilations of publicly available information. The company did not allege that google.com or the search results displayed therein are protected under the Copyright Act. Google noted that results are often accompanied by a Knowledge Panel that may contain licensed copyrighted content, but did not claim the panel is always included or always contains copyrighted material. The court found this mix of content cuts against Google's argument. The dismissal leaves the case open for Google to refile. The ruling comes as more companies attempt to restrict access to web data amid rising demand for AI training material. A separate lawsuit filed by Reddit against SerpAPI and others over similar allegations continues to move forward.