Google SerpApi lawsuit continues after court narrows scraping claims

A court has dealt Google an early setback in the Google SerpApi lawsuit over scraping search results, but the company says it will keep pursuing the case. The dispute matters because Google and Reddit are testing whether the Digital Millennium Copyright Act can be used to restrict AI-related scraping of public search pages.

Ars Technica reported that Google sued SerpApi in December, accusing the company of bypassing anti-scraping systems and selling scraped Google search data through what Google called an unauthorized Google Search API. Google argued that its systems help protect copyrighted material appearing in search results, including some content licensed for knowledge panels.

The judge granted SerpApi’s motion to dismiss at an early stage, finding that Google had not shown it had standing under the DMCA because it did not own the search-result content and had not shown it was acting for rights holders, Ars reported. Meredith Rose, senior policy counsel at Public Knowledge, told Ars that such early dismissals do not happen often and that Google had not alleged enough about the copyrighted material it claimed to protect.

What is the Google SerpApi lawsuit about?

The case centers on whether Google can use the DMCA’s anti-circumvention rules against a company that scrapes search results. Google says SerpApi evaded technical barriers and created costs from bot searches; SerpApi says Google is trying to control public web information it does not own.

Google has acknowledged that ordinary search results are not copyrightable, according to Ars. Its remaining path appears to involve knowledge panels, where Google says some material may be licensed from rights holders.

Google spokesperson José Castañeda told Ars that the company plans to amend its complaint and is pleased the court rejected most of SerpApi’s other legal arguments. The court gave Google 21 days to file an amended complaint, Ars reported.

Rose told Ars that Google faces a narrow and risky argument if it leans on copyrighted content in knowledge panels. She said Google would need to distinguish licensed material from other information generated for the panels, because a broader claim could raise questions about whether Google itself reproduced unlicensed material.

How Reddit fits into the scraping fight

Reddit filed a similar case in October against SerpApi and Perplexity, alleging that they scraped Reddit content shown in Google results, Ars reported. Google later cited Reddit’s lawsuit when announcing its own case, saying it had acted as a last resort against what it described as malicious scraping.

Reddit’s case is still pending after a hearing on SerpApi’s motion to dismiss. Rose told Ars that the Google ruling could be a bad sign for Reddit because Reddit is not the copyright owner, exclusive licensee or operator of the Google technical measure at issue in search results.

Reddit did not respond to Ars’ request for comment. In a court filing before the hearing, Reddit said it was prepared to address how the Google ruling affected its case, Ars reported.

SerpApi says the cases threaten the open web

SerpApi told Ars that Google and Reddit are trying to use the DMCA to wall off the open Internet by asserting control over material they did not create and do not own. The company said its customers, including Nvidia, Uber and Adobe, depend on structured access to search data.

SerpApi also told Ars that the litigation has been expensive and disruptive, though its business has continued to grow. The company said it is prepared to defend itself, its customers and what it views as lawful access to public search data.

Rose told Ars that wider efforts to block automated scraping can affect more than AI training. She said research, archiving, journalism and public health reporting can also depend on anonymous crawling and large-scale scraping.

This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.