Genius Media, the owners of Genius.com, have accused Google of copying their lyrics for their search results.
In recent times, when users type the title of a song, the entire lyrics come up along with more details about the song. The box is usually included at the top of the search results. This is an amazing tool that we have now gotten used to.
However, Genius, which has been around since 2009, is not pleased with this. The site prides itself as a ‘platform for annotating clever rap lyrics.’ There have been some expansions since the company began.
Genius advanced to sharing lyrics to all types of music, and it has become a hub where fans discuss their favourite songs.
Genius Media now says that Google has been copying its lyrics. It also said it has made several formal complaints to the tech giants over the years.
The Chief Strategy Officer at Genius, Ben Gross said in a statement that they had shown Google multiple evidence that they were copying their lyrics. He said they copy from their site to the Google search Lyrics OneBox. Gross noted that it was a serious issue that Google needs to address.
Genius said that they can tell that they are being copied because of a tricky way they customise their lyrics. Apparently, they use some alternating curved and straight apostrophes to make their lyrics appear more unique.
The patterns that they use to watermark it when converted into the Morse Code reveals the words, Red Handed.
LyricFind
On its part, Google says that it licenses the content of its lyrics from a third party called LyricFind Inc. The tech giant also says they take data quality and creator rights very seriously. They further explained that they hold their licensing partners accountable to the terms of their agreement.
LyricFind has also denied any wrongdoing. It says it did not take any lyrics from Genius. A Google spokesperson has also confirmed to The Verge that the licenses come from various sources. However, they say they are investigating the issue with their data partners.