Source: https://itsartlaw.org/2014/10/20/getty-v-microsoft-flagrant-infringement-or-a-new-fair-use-frontier/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 23:57:39+00:00

Document:
On September 4, 2014, Getty Images, Inc. [Getty] filed a lawsuit in the Southern District Court of New York against Microsoft Corporation [Microsoft] over the Bing Image Widget, whose beta version was released less than two weeks earlier. The lawsuit seeks to “enjoin Defendant Microsoft from infringing and facilitating the massive infringement of Plaintiff’s copyrights through [the Widget].” In its complaint, Getty describes itself as “one of the world’s largest providers of commercial visual content and the leading provider of commercial images online, representing more than eighty million unique works of digital imagery.” According to Getty, the Widget allows website publishers to display images collected by the Bing Image Search without attribution of, much less the permission of the copyright owners. Moreover, says Getty, the Widget financially benefits Microsoft by promoting the Bing Search Engine. As discussed below, Microsoft adamantly disagrees. The parties exchanged a flurry of briefs in September and October. As of the date of this blog’s publication, Getty’s motion for a preliminary injunction has been denied since the court was satisfied that Microsoft disabled the Widget and indicated that it does not intend to re-launch it, and the court’s decision on Microsoft’s motion to dismiss remains to be seen.
The Bing Image Widget is no longer publically available, but based on common denominators in Getty’s and Microsoft’s descriptions of the service, the Widget is a snippet of code that an individual building a website can program into his or her webpage. The website builder then runs an image search, and images responsive to his or her query (found through Microsoft’s Bing Search Engine) are displayed through the Widget, in either a collage or a slideshow format. Thumbnail images for the collage format are pulled directly from the image copies saved by the Bing Search Engine and stored on Microsoft’s servers. Images displayed in the slideshow view are funneled through the Widget from the websites that host them and are not copied or stored by Microsoft. Screenshots of the collage and slideshow displays are available in both parties’ pleadings.
Indeed, a search engine may be more transformative than a parody because a search engine provides an entirely new use for the original work, while a parody typically has the same entertainment purpose as the original work… We conclude that the significantly transformative nature of Google’s search engine, particularly in light of its public benefit, outweighs Google’s superseding and commercial uses of the thumbnails in this case. In reaching this conclusion, we note the importance of analyzing fair use flexibly in light of new circumstances. We are also mindful of the Supreme Court’s direction that ‘the more transformative the new work, the less will be the significance of other factors, like commercialism, that may weigh against a finding of fair use’” (emphasis added).
Getty argues that the “server test” that was used in Perfect 10 v. Google and led the district court to determine that Google wasn’t infringing because the images that were produced through its search engine did not reside on its servers does not apply here because the Widget is not being used as a search tool meant to direct users to other website. Aside from this argument, however, Getty does not present a clear explanation as to why the “server test” would not apply to the Widget’s slideshow view.
While at first blush Microsoft’s use of copyrighted images within the Widget appears to be a clear-cut case of copyright infringement, the ever-changing nature of the Internet and fair use renders a finding in favor of Getty less than certain. The district court in Perfect 10 v. Google found that Google’s thumbnails were not fair use, which is not an unreasonable conclusion. Yet the circuit court in Perfect 10 v. Amazon pointed out a “highly transformative” perspective on the very same use of thumbnails. Assuming the case at hand does not settle, will the court find a way to regard the Widget’s functionality as transformative and valuable to the public? Stay tuned.
Complaint, Getty Images, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., No. 14-CV-7114 (S.D.N.Y., Sept. 4, 2014).
Plaintiff’s Memorandum of Law in Support of Order to Show Cause, Getty Images, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., No. 14-CV-7114 (S.D.N.Y., Sept. 4, 2014).
Microsoft Corporation’s Memorandum of Law in Opposition to Plaintiff’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction, Getty Images, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., No. 14-CV-7114 (S.D.N.Y., Sept. 4, 2014).
Plaintiff’s Replay Memorandum in Support of Motion for Preliminary Injunction, Getty Images, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., No. 14-CV-7114 (S.D.N.Y., Sept. 4, 2014).
Order, Getty Images, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., No. 14-CV-7114 (S.D.N.Y., Sept. 4, 2014).
Opinion and Order, Getty Images, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., No. 14-CV-7114 (S.D.N.Y., Sept. 4, 2014).
Perfect 10, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc., 487 F.3d 701 (9th Cir. 2007).
Perfect 10, Inc. v. Google, Inc., 416 F. Supp. 2d 828 (C.D. Cal. 2006).
About the Author: Elena Kravtsoff is an attorney based in Washington, DC. She may be reached at elena.kravtsoff@gmail.com.

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