Warner Bros. Records files suit against music search engine, SeeqPod for infringement of copyrighted material

Nirav Sanghani (Blog) - January 26, 2008 12:48 PM
DailyTech

Warner Bros. Records announced on Friday that it has filed suit against music streaming search engine, SeeqPod. According to Ars Technica, the media giant claims that the search engine, though it does not host any of its available files, infringes on the copyrighted works of intellectual property owners.

SeeqPod defends itself, using the DMCA’s “safe harbor” provision to protect it from lawsuits.

Under the provision, companies that only link intellectual property, and not host them, are protected from lawsuits. The provision was meant to defend search engines that link to illegal websites, so long as the web service does not hand select certain material that can be linked. Only as long as the service automatically links without specifically selecting the recipients of the material or the material itself, is it protected under the provision. [Comments]