Legislation could exempt search engines from UK copyright infringement
Posted by Leah McBride Mensching on January 13, 2010 at 5:01 PM
Amendments tabled to the Digital Economy Bill by Lord Lucas could protect search engines from copyright liability in the United Kingdom, PressGazette reported yesterday. However, this would not apply to content on a Web site that used technology to block crawlers, such as robots.txt.
"Brilliant. Immediately all of the rows and back-and-forth between ill-advised newspapers and publishers is given a clear legal footing. It would be legal to be a search engine, and you can tell them to keep out if you wish. A few sentences saves millions of pounds of court costs and clears the headaches of everyone involved," Ian Douglas wrote for Telegraph.co.uk.
"Brilliant. Immediately all of the rows and back-and-forth between ill-advised newspapers and publishers is given a clear legal footing. It would be legal to be a search engine, and you can tell them to keep out if you wish. A few sentences saves millions of pounds of court costs and clears the headaches of everyone involved," Ian Douglas wrote for Telegraph.co.uk.
If the amendment is passed, it could make it impossible for sites that have not blocked content from search engines to sue for copyright infringement.
The bill also would allow copyright creators to re-market their content by obtaining a license to publish it themselves if the copyright owner does not offer it across formats and in all regions within two years. If it is not published at all within five years, the creator also has a right to obtain a license, as well as legally settle the dispute with a cap of £1,000 on legal expenses, according to Douglas.
For more on this story, visit our sister site, editorsweblog.org.
The bill also would allow copyright creators to re-market their content by obtaining a license to publish it themselves if the copyright owner does not offer it across formats and in all regions within two years. If it is not published at all within five years, the creator also has a right to obtain a license, as well as legally settle the dispute with a cap of £1,000 on legal expenses, according to Douglas.
For more on this story, visit our sister site, editorsweblog.org.
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