Copyright in the Information Society – Breaches of Copyright by Search Engines

Using the incommensurable quantity of information in the World Wide Web effectively is almost impossible without calling on search services. Search engine providers have a central function in the structuring of existing knowledge, and for many Internet users a search engine is, in fact, the starting point every time they look into the Internet.

The way search engines function technically involves an automatic search of all websites. Examining the websites for content “online” is impossible in that process. The content found is instead held in a buffer and, when it is sought by the user, so-called hit lists, which contain short extracts from the contents found or also so-called thumbnails, that is greatly reduced versions of images published in the internet, are displayed, as well as links to the respective websites.

This setting of search technology could breach copyright in multiple ways. The PhD-project investigates search engines’ possible breaches of copyright and, taking the constitutional significance of search engines for public communication into account, tries to demonstrate possible new solutions. The project will be finished in summer 2011.