Google Thumbnails Ruled in Violation of Copyright

(Hamburg, Germany) Two Hamburg district courts ruled last month that Google has violated exclusive usage rights of image owners by displaying thumbnails of copyrighted images. According to Google spokesperson Kay Oberbeck, the decisions are being appealed.

The decision could force Google to shut down their image search in Germany -- at least for images that are carried without permission. But Oberbeck said it will not go into effect while the company awaits what they hope will be a successful appeal.

“The image search only shows thumbnails that are about 25 kilobytes -- which is really miniature,” Oberbeck told The Local. “Court cases across Europe have shown that these searches are legal, and Google does not profit from them.”

The lawsuits are unnecessary, he argued, because of an internet standard used worldwide called the “Robots Exclusion Protocol” or “robots.txt,” which anyone can use to prevent web spider and robots from accessing part of a website that owners don’t want to be public.

So, we wait on the outcome of the appeal.