Inside Google

A Canadian court has denied Google’s attempt to dismiss a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Perfect 10, an adult entertainment publisher.

The decision keeps alive a legal dispute north of the border that was largely settled in the United States in May 2007 when a federal court ruled that Google’s us of  thumbnail images of scantily clad women did not violate “fair use” law.

That decision was hailed by Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Library Association as a victory for the public interest. The copyright holders in the entertainment industry, the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of American sided with Perfect 10 in that case.

The Canadian judge said U.S. and Canadian law are different so the case must be heard there.

Perfect 10’s president Dr. Norm Zada said:

“I believe that Google makes hundreds of millions of dollars each year by placing unauthorized Google Ads around hundreds of thousands of images, including Perfect 10 images, and by placing such ads around tens of thousands of celebrity images, without the permission of the celebrity. What Google does in cyberspace it would never get away with in the real world.”