Book People Archive

Google Wins the Right to Display Thumbnails and to "Frame" Copyrighted Material Used Without Permission



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http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/dorf/20070523.html

Wednesday, May. 23, 2007 | FindLaw's WRIT

Google Wins the Right to Display Thumbnails and to "Frame" Copyrighted 
Material Used Without Permission:
A Mostly Sensible Ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

By MICHAEL C. DORF

Last week, in Perfect 10, Inc. v. Amazon 
<http://caselaw.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0655405P.pdf> 
<http://caselaw.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0655405P.pdf>, the U.S. 
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected arguments that by 
providing thumbnail pictures and by "framing" copyrighted material 
without permission, Google's image search engine violates the Copyright Act.

The ruling was no doubt welcome news for Google and its shareholders. 
But it's also good news for Internet users. The decision is a generally 
sensible attempt to apply copyright law to the Internet without stifling 
innovation.

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