Google CEO Sundar Pichai: Search will profoundly change in 2025
Pichai thinks we'll all be surprised in early 2025 about the newer things that search can do compared to where it is today.
Topic: Fair use
Reddit CEO to Microsoft and AI search engines: Pay for our content
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman does not believe all web content – especially theirs – is free for AI models and search engines to crawl and use.
Microsoft AI CEO: Web content is ‘freeware’
Mustafa Suleyman believes almost all web content can be used for AI training unless explicitly restricted by the creator.
Google: All online content should be available for AI training unless publishers opt out
The search engine has sent its proposal to the Australian government, urging policymakers to change existing copyright laws.
ChatGPT vs. Google Bard vs. Bing Chat: Which generative AI solution is best?
Which generative AI tool is the best? Here's a comparison of ChatGPT, Bard, Bing Chat Balanced and Bing Chat Creative based on four metrics.
French antitrust decision sets the stage for Google to pay for news content in Europe
Google had sought to avoid paying copyright licensing fees by getting publishers to waive them in exchange for being included in search results.
No surprise: Clicks plummet when images, article info stripped from news results in SERP
Google sought to show potential 'unintended consequences' of new copyright rules that require fees when content is shown in search results.
EU’s disruptive ‘copyright reform’ moves closer to passage
Legislation seeks to clean up copyright but also to subsidize traditional media at the expense of internet companies.
NY federal court decision threatens embedding and linking across the web
The judge's decision disregards existing law and if upheld could expose bloggers and publishers to potential copyright lawsuits.
Columbia University researchers claim 28% of Google’s URL takedown requests are invalid
Among the questionable DMCA notices, 4.2% of the takedown requests targeted sites that failed to include any copyright-infringing content.
Authors Guild Appeals Lower Court Decision Backing Google’s Book Digitizing Project
The issue is whether Google’s project violates the copyrights of some of the millions of scanned books, or whether it has a valid “fair use” exception.
Ending Decade Of Litigation, Court OKs Google Book Scanning As “Fair Use”
A three-judge panel for the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals has definitively ruled that Google’s full-text book scanning is “fair use” and thus protected from claims of copyright infringement. So unless The Authors Guild, which originally sued Google in 2005, wants to appeal to the US Supreme Court, Google has won. Fair use is […]
Reaction: What SEOs Think About Facts & Answers Showing In Google Search Results
Last week, Google officially rolled out Structured Snippets, the search giant’s move to show snippets of relevant data directly in its search results. According to Google, the content being displayed is powered by its Knowledge Graph, as well as other data sources. As Search Engine Land news editor Barry Schwartz noted in his article, “Where […]
To Avoid Liability, Google Limits German News Content To Headlines
German news and magazine publishers are determined, one way or another, to get Google to pay them for their content. They’re not upset about the content appearing in Google News or search. They want it to appear — they just want Google to pay for it. Google doesn’t want to pay. And there’s no U.S.-style “fair use” copyright exception in […]
Tweet Showing How Google Itself Is A “Scraper Site” Goes Massively Viral
Perhaps it’s SEO’s “Oreo moment,” a tweet relating to search engine optimization that’s gained nearly as much attention as Oreo’s famous Super Bowl blackout tweet. But the subject was a perfect storm of goodness — a real-life example of Google doing the type of thing in search it seems to be telling others not to […]
Court Finds Google’s Book Scanning Is Fair Use: Highlights From The Ruling
Nearly ten years after it began and eight years after Google was sued over it, Google’s program that scans books in order to make them searchable has been found legal. A judge found fair use, especially in that “Google Books does not supersede or supplant books because it is not a tool to be used to […]
German “Ancillary Copyright” Law To Go Into Effect, Imposes Limits On Search Results
According to a report from IDG News, a “toned down” version of an earlier, more restrictive “ancillary copyright” law has been published in Germany and will go into effect in August. The ”ancillary copyright” rule was proposed in August of 2012. In its initial form it would have required Google and others that indexed or […]
Google Avoids Link Tax But Vague “Ancillary Copyright” Law Sets Up Future Legal Battle
In August of last year, a number of German lawmakers were pressing proposed “ancillary copyright” legislation that would have required Google and others that indexed or aggregated news to pay for links or excerpts from those news items. The proposed law was championed by German magazine and newspaper publishers who, like their counterparts in the US, are seeing […]
Google Wins Major Antitrust Victory In Brazil, Does It Foreshadow Broader EU & US Wins?
In addition to the various government antitrust investigations against Google going on around the world, there is a parallel world of private lawsuits by Google rivals and critics that make similar unfair competition or antitrust claims against Mountain View. They generally allege, among other things, that Google is unfairly referring traffic to its own “vertical […]
Germany Wants To Force Google To Pay License Fees For Links
A report from GigaOm this morning discusses a ridiculous proposed “ancillary copyright” law in Germany that would compel Google — and others online — to pay to link to and excerpt any content from German publishers’ websites (e.g., newspapers). The law currently is in draft form and being debated by stakeholders and legislators. The “fair […]
Google Stung By Procedural Ruling In Book Scanning Lawsuit
Google received a procedural setback today in the long running litigation over its book-scanning project. Presiding Judge Dennis Chin ruled that the Authors Guild and a parallel trade organization for photographers could represent their members collectively against Google in the class action. Google had wanted to remove these organizations and deal individually with authors and […]
Second Google-Sponsored Legal Report Argues Government Would Lose Antitrust Case
Google is playing a sophisticated form of “head games” with antitrust regulators. A second legal report-cum-brief (embedded below) has appeared. It argues that antitrust challenges against Google are likely to fail because Google’s critics’ arguments lack legal merit and/or make little sense from a policy perspective. The report was written by lawyers from the Ammori […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 8, 2012
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Can There Really Be 85 Types Of Unnatural Links? I apologize upfront for the title bait. If it worked, good. What’s ironic is I think if every link builder got together […]
Eric Schmidt Tells Congress That Google Doesn’t Have ‘Separate Products & Services’
Google’s universal search results — things like videos, news, images and local business listings — aren’t “separate ‘products and services’ from Google,” according to company chairman Eric Schmidt. He makes that claim, and many others, in a lengthy written response submitted today to the U.S. Senate’s antitrust subcommittee — a required follow-up to Schmidt’s in-person […]
News Events, Tweeted Photos & The Permissions Mess
Have you tweeted a great photograph that’s gone viral, such as today’s Space Shuttle launch as seen from a commercial airline flight? Getting credit for that, much less getting paid for it, seems to be a mess. It’s been on my to do list to write about this issue for several weeks. It came up […]
Google & AP Extend Long-Term Content Deal
After months of being without a long-term content deal, Google and the Associated Press have finally renewed their vows. Google will continue to host AP stories on Google News and have access to AP’s news feeds without fear that the AP will make legal claims against the company. From the announcement: We’ve extended our existing […]
Google Wins Legal Victories In Europe, US On Copyright & Trademark Issues
Google has won what appears to be a major legal victory in German (and so probably the rest of Europe) on the question of whether image search and showing thumbnails violates copyright law. The Google European Public Policy Blog succinctly describes the facts and holding: We are heartened by the German Supreme Court´s ruling today […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 22, 2010
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google AdWords With Ratings & Reviews Matthew Mierzejewski posted a screen capture on the Rimm-Kaufman blog, showing reviews and ratings directly in the AdWords ads. As you can see in the […]
US Dept. Of Justice: Court “Lacks Authority To Approve” Google Book Search Settlement
With a final “fairness hearing” scheduled for February 18, the US Department Of Justice has filed briefs (PDF) in opposition to the Google Book Search Amended Settlement Agreement (“ASA”). The DOJ commends the parties for their efforts to reach an amended agreement that addresses some of the problems with the original settlement but concludes that […]
He Calls Google A Vampire, But Mark Cuban’s Mahalo Is Doing The Sucking
Yesterday, Mark Cuban warned media owners in a keynote speech that Google is a vampire trying to suck them dry, giving them nothing back and daring owners to block it. This is the same Mark Cuban who is an investor in Mahalo, which touts to advertisers how it taps into Google to generate page views. […]
AP & Google Reach A Deal – Sort Of
Google and the Associated Press have reached an agreement allowing Google to continue using AP content. But whether this is a long-term agreement replacing the one that expired last month is unclear. And despite the agreement, AP stories won’t be hosted by Google News any time soon, it seems. Yahoo’s also struck a new deal […]
Proposed UK Law Would Immunize Search Engines Against Copyright Claims
There’s been enormous debate in the US over the years about whether Google and other search engines violate copyright laws by indexing content of various sorts. The Google book scanning litigation was a copyright lawsuit. And the newspaper industry has repeatedly accused Google of building its news site on the back of their copyrighted material. […]
Revised Google Book Settlement Filed & Live Blogging The Press Call
As expected, a revised Google Book Settlement has been filed today — about as late as possible. The agreement narrows the scope to the US, UK, Canada and Australia. It alters how revenue generated by “unclaimed works” will be handled. It formally grants retailers who license out-of-print books covered by the settlement — including Google […]
Dissecting The AP & Murdoch Speeches Against Those Internet News Thieves
Associated Press president Tom Curley and News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch both made speeches yesterday in China that are being widely reported as an attack on Google. Having read through the actual speeches, I was surprised they weren’t as bad as I thought they’d be. Below, I’ve highlighted key portions along with my own commentary. […]
Google’s Schmidt To Book Settlement Critics: What’s Your Solution?
As the proposed Google Book Search lawsuit settlement is debated, I’ve read calls from various critics that everything should go back to “square one” for a solution. Would Google be willing to do this? Google CEO Eric Schmidt says he’s open to ideas, but none of the critics are putting forward new solutions that would […]
Google To Newspapers: Robots.Txt You
Newspaper attacks on Google somehow apparently overstepping fair use and stealing their material are just escalating, with a European led “Hamburg Declaration” coming out last week. Now Google’s blogged a response that basically says if you want out of Google, it’s easily done with a robots.txt file. That, of course, is what search engine savvy […]
Google Versus News Organizations: What’s Fair?
A new Columbia Journalism Review opinion piece argues persuasively (in my view) that Google “owes” something to traditional journalism and news organizations. Google, typically, is a stand-in for “the internet” in these discussions. This notion of responsibility to publishers is unpopular among bloggers and Internet denizens more generally. I tend to fault news organizations for […]
Yahoo Search Pad To Launch Tomorrow
In the works for nearly a year, Yahoo Search Pad is to formally launch tomorrow for all users. The feature is a nifty “notepad” service that allows users to collect information from search results into a single page for reference purposes. I first saw a demo last November and immediately wanted SearchPad to be live. […]
Open Letter To Google & The AP: Reveal The Licensing Terms
Discussions between Google and the Associated Press about renewing their content licensing deal continue, I assume, but all’s quiet recently on the negotiation front. I want to disrupt that. It would be wrong in this particular case for both parties to reach a deal where “terms are not disclosed.” The future of journalism, as well […]