Web scraper sued by Google claims Google is the one scraping the web

Google sues SerpApi over alleged unauthorized data scraping

Google has filed a lawsuit against SerpApi, a web scraping company, alleging that it circumvents Google’s security measures to scrape and resell copyrighted content from search results. The suit, filed under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), claims that SerpApi uses fake searches to illegally access and reproduce data from public websites.

SerpApi counters Google’s claims

In response, SerpApi argues that Google does not hold a copyright over its search results and that the information it scrapes from public websites is not protected by copyright. The company has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, asserting that Google’s search results are not original content and that public websites are not entitled to exclusive rights over their content.

Background and legal context

• Google claims that SerpApi uses hundreds of millions of fake searches to bypass its protection mechanisms.
• The lawsuit centers on allegations of unlawful circumvention of Google’s technological barriers, including the use of tools like SearchGuard.
• Other media outlets, including The Verge, TechBuzz AI, and Reuters, have reported on the legal dispute, highlighting the broader debate over data scraping and copyright in the digital ecosystem.

Public reaction and discussion

The case has sparked debate online, with users questioning whether Google itself is the primary entity scraping the web, especially given that search results are derived from public websites and are not exclusively owned by Google.

來源：https://www.theverge.com/tech/882300/serpapi-google-lawsuit-web-scraper-motion-to-dismiss