Search Engines Could be Exempted from Copyright Laws
Conservative peer Lord Lucas has formally proposed an amendment to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and Digital Economy Bill which enforces copyright infringement charges. If passed unchanged, the new bill will allow search engines to reproduce web content within results, as long as they direct to the source material.
Lord Lucas's recommendation states: "Every provider of a publicly accessible website shall be presumed to give a standing and non-exclusive licence to providers of search engine services to make a copy of some or all of the content of that website, for the purpose only of providing said search engine services."
It continues, "A provider of search engine services who acts in accordance with this section shall not be liable for any breach of copyright."
This amendment would be a major blow to publishers who are critical of search engines and particularly Google, which aggregate content free within their results page.
Key publishing figures against the proposition include Trinity Mirror's Sly Bailey and News International's Rupert Murdoch. They have stated exemption from copyright infringements devalues online news content and is harming to the publishing industry.
