Pr0n Publishers try to Cash in on Gorkster Ruling

Guess what? Some schmucks just figured out that they can abuse the Gorkster ruling. We all knew this was bound to happen - ruling that technology company can be held liable for the actions of its users was a very dangerous move. And we just begin to see the implications.

A pr0n magazine publisher is now trying to sue google because google images section displays thumbnails of their copyrighted photos. Before you blurt out "dumbasses should have used robots.txt" let me finish. They are not pissed that Google is indexing images on their website - they are fine with that. What seems to irk them is that Google indexes web pages that stole their material.

There, now you can say WTF. See, before Gorkster ruling they would have no case. Google would just say "screw you, we are a search engine". But, now days this is not that easy. Now the search engine company has to prove beyond reasonable doubt that it's technology was not designed to facilitate copyright infringement. I don't think any reasonable judge would rule against Google on this one but still.

The basic idea here is to siphon some money from the search engine giant using Gorkster as a loophole. The best the publisher can hope for is a settlement with google - which means a nice influx of cash for them. If they really cared about their copyright being violated they would do a RIAA and go after the individuals websites posting these images.

All that said, I still don't think they have a case. But if it involves copyright you can never be sure what will the courts rule these days...

Tags: google, google lawsuit, top 10, google vs top 10, google copyright