- Is the Cisco MARS mission going to abort?
- First iPhone worm spreads Rick Astley wallpaper
- 10 stunning 3D buildings made with Google SketchUp
- Open source software ready for big business
- Four reasons to buy (and one reason to avoid) the Droid
A publisher of nude model photography is suing Microsoft for putting links and images of the company's content in search results taken from other Web sites that are illegally reproducing the material.
The company, Perfect 10, previously lost a similar suit seeking injunctions against Google and Amazon.com and its subsidiary search engine, A9.com, over alleged copyright infringement, but Perfect 10 is appealing that decision.
The latest suit, filed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court, Central District of California, alleges that Microsoft's MSN image search feature creates unauthorized thumbnails of content owned by Perfect 10 and includes links to see full-size versions of the images for free.
The suit also says Microsoft's MSN search engine can find passwords that have been improperly posted on other Web sites and enable access to Perfect 10's Web site. Microsoft also takes advertising money from Web sites that have stolen Perfect 10 images, according to the lawsuit.
Norm Zada, president of Perfect 10, said Microsoft has rejected efforts to reach a settlement. Microsoft could not be immediately reached for comment.
Zada said Microsoft's search engine, as well as those of Google and Amazon.com, have caused his company to lose US$4 million a month. Perfect 10 recently closed its magazine after 10 years in print because of images being available for free online, which were easy to find through searches, he added.
"Our business is being destroyed," Zada said. "This is a life-and-death battle for us."
Perfect 10 sued between 20 to 25 Web sites that were stealing its content, but "it's absolutely hopeless. A lot of these people are in Russia or China," Zada said. Instead, Zada said he holds the search engines responsible for making it easy to find infringing content.
For a time, it looked as if Perfect 10 might prevail in its claim against Google and Amazon.com. In February, a judge ruled that Google and Amazon.com could be partially liable for infringement for displaying the thumbnails.
However, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned most of that decision in May, citing fair-use principles and the benefits that search engines provide to the general public.
The court also found full-size images from Web sites are not stored by Google, and the company's search service merely directs a user's browser to third-party Web sites.
Zada said Perfect 10 is appealing the Ninth Circuit's decision, but no court date has been scheduled yet.
Rss FeedRss Feed
The Leader in Network Knowledge
Partner Content
Blue Stripe Software
www.bluestripe.com/
Improving Application Performance Troubleshooting
Diagnosing why an application is slow is hard, at times taking days or weeks to isolate and resolve. This paper explains the challenges involved using current management tools, provides a 'wish list' for application management and analysis, and explains the need for an application system-wide approach that monitors entire applications, not components.
Download Whitepaper
Virtual Vigilance: Managing Application Performance in Virtual Environments
This paper highlights the impact of virtualization on application performance. "Managing Application Performance in Virtual Environments" states: "Best-in-Class organizations are predominately taking actions around improving visibility across both physical and virtual systems, assessing the business impact of application performance and understanding interdependencies of applications in virtualized environments."
Download Whitepaper
Application Service Requests: The Missing Link for Pragmatic ITSM
Forrester Research analyst Glenn O'Donnell and BlueStripe co-founder Vic Nyman discuss a breakthrough approach to application problem management. Learn the new approach for ITSM problem management, which provides: Rapid isolation of application slow-downs to specific components for quick problem resolution, 24/7 monitoring for proactive notification of potential issues before end users are impacted and much more.
Register for Webcast
Comments (10)
RE: Porn company Perfect 10 sues MicrosoftBy HAHA on August 9, 2007, 12:42 pmHaha. I wonder if my site is in there with all the perfect10 galleries :) Keep up the great work spitting out new content for my viewers! They love the FREE goodies...
Reply | Read entire comment
Protect your images if it's such an issueBy K. Savage on August 9, 2007, 2:05 pm(open letter to Perfect 10) If you don't want your images to be found by search engines, don't serve them up to the bots. And If I understand the story correctly,...
Reply | Read entire comment
Poor BabiesBy Anonymous on August 10, 2007, 9:49 amAhhhh... poor, poor babies!
Reply | Read entire comment
I thought porn sites were supposed to be on the cutting edgeBy Adam Gaffin on August 10, 2007, 11:06 amBut I just checked out Perfect 10's site (I'm working at home today, what can I say?) and they have neither a robots.txt file (which reputable search engines all...
Reply | Read entire comment
Reread the articleBy Gardoglee on August 10, 2007, 4:18 pmThe suits do not depend primarily upon Google, Amazon and MSN generating links to Perfect !0's site. As the article states, the problem is when those engines generate...
Reply | Read entire comment
PrecedentBy Anonymous on August 13, 2007, 8:31 amI have a lot of trouble dragging up sympathy here, I do have 3 grown daughters and I think of the parents of the women displayed in these pictures, that's where...
Reply | Read entire comment
View all comments