Genius, an American lyric website, has sued LyricFind a Google partner for using its content without authorisation. Although the case does not look strong enough, the company is asking for $50 million in damages.
The report shows that Genius had repeatedly warned Google and by extension, LyricFind over the issue. But these warnings went unheeded.
The Verge reports that Google had ordered their partner to investigate the accusation. Obviously, it didn’t do anything in that line. In June 2019, LyricFind had conceded that they may have ‘pinched’ lyrics from Genius. These were used in Google searches.
Genius pointed out that it is an unfair practice as its competitor benefits from their hard work through this tactic.
When anyone searches Google for any song lyric, the snippet that pops up is from LyricFind. Below this is Genius’ website. This is because LyricFind is a partner of the search engine company. Despite this clear advantage, some lyrics used by the company are lifted illegally from the Genius page.
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It was difficult to prove this because, for one thing, both parties have an agreement with song publishers. They hold licenses to post their lyrics online, so where they got them from may not be an issue as neither owns the music.
But Genius proved that LyricFind really lifted their posts. This is something that is prohibited in the website’s terms and conditions. They hid a watermark in their posts. According to Vulture, the hidden watermark holds a code that when converted spells the word “red handed”.
Armed with this, Genius sues LyricFind, bringing Google in as well.
Despite the unclear guidelines around the legal proceedings, Google may lose out if they do not face the suit squarely. John Bergmayer explained this to The Verge:
“I think that Google should actually take the claims very seriously, not because any one of the particular legal arguments is a slam dunk winner,”
The legal director with a consumer advocacy group, Public Knowledge continued:
“It’s just they’re too big, they’re too powerful, and they’re involved in too many things … That’s Google’s biggest danger here, that overall atmosphere.”
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