Google Under Fire from Web Scraper in Copyright Dispute Over Search Results

In a surprising twist, web scraper company SerpApi has fired back against Google’s copyright lawsuit, arguing that it is actually Google that should be held liable for scraping search results on the web. According to SerpApi, the technology giant benefits from the work of others who have shared their content online and therefore does not hold a valid copyright claim over its search engine outputs. SerpApi claims that Google’s search results are built upon a foundation of user-generated content, which it alleges constitutes a form of public domain information. By using this content without permission or proper attribution, SerpApi argues that Google is indeed the one performing web scraping activities, rather than being the victim as the company claims. The lawsuit was filed by Google in December last year, with the company accusing SerpApi of violating US copyright law and employing deceptive methods to access its search results. However, SerpApi’s response shifts the focus away from the company that has long been seen as the de facto leader in web scraping technology.