SerpApi claims it is merely doing “what Google does to everyone else.”
SerpApi, a company providing web-scraping tools, is contesting a copyright suit from Google, which accuses it of scraping search results on a large scale. In a motion to dismiss filed on Friday, SerpApi contends that Google holds no copyright over its search results, asserting that the engine is built on “the world’s information” provided by others.
In December, Google sued SerpApi, alleging it breached the Copyright Act by using “deceptive means” to access and scrape its search results. Google also claims SerpApi bypassed its anti-scraping SearchGuard feature. However, SerpApi argues in its motion that Google itself is “the largest scraper on the planet,” and that SerpApi is merely replicating Google’s own practices:
“Just like Google — but at a much smaller scale — SerpApi uses ‘automated means’ to scrape public websites, which it then synthesizes and makes available to its customers in ways it believes they will find relevant and useful. This, of course, is exactly what Google does.”
SerpApi asserts that Google does not claim ownership over its search results and that the information scraped from public websites is not protected by copyright access controls. The company also argues it did not breach the Copyright Act by bypassing SearchGuard, claiming that the tool is intended only for protecting Google’s business, not licensed content.