In a recent case filed by Milorad Trkulja against
search engine Google, the Australian court has held Google liable for
defamatory images that were reflected in its search results.
The jury in this case concluded that the search
engine was the publisher of images of Trkjulja and related
information which suggested he was involved in crime. Google
naturally took the defence of being an online service provider (OSP)
not liable for defamatory images.
However, Google failed to realise that the safe
harbour protection available to it ceases to exist the moment it is
put to notice of the defamatory or any copyright infringing material
and it fails to take any action upon the same.
If even after being aware of such offending material
a search engine like Google does not take action, it is certainly
liable for the consequences as the safe harbour protection is not
available to it.
Of late Google
has also been defying both Indian and US laws that pertains to
copyright protection, trademarks protection and offensive
contents removal laws. In fact, Google
has been deleting the original and copyright protected articles and
is supporting copyright infringers by not removing the
copyright violating results from the search results.
A dedicated website titled websites,
blogs and news censorship by Google and India and a
corresponding discussion group has also been started by Perry4Law’s
Techno Legal Base (PTLB) to demarcate the legal
liabilities of Google for engaging in many forms of search results
censorships and not taking appropriate legal action after receiving a
valid content removal request.
We must ascertain is
Google playing stupid or is it actually stupid? Google has
been ignoring in many cases the applicable laws for removal of
copyright violating material and offending contents. And merely
because it is an intermediary or OSP does not protect it from civil
and criminal liabilities especially when it is aware of the offending
contents.
