German Federal Court of Justice rules that GS Media presumption of knowledge does not apply to Google Images
Is Google responsible for the lawfulness of the images displayed through its Images search service ? According to the German Federal Court of Justice ( Bundesgerichtshof - BGH), the answer is NO. In a judgment delivered yesterday ( I ZR 11/16 - Preview III ) the BGH relied on the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in GS Media , C-160/15 [Katposts here ] and dismissed the action that the operator of a photography website had brought against Google and its search engine. Background The applicant’s website includes a restricted (password-protected) area to which customers can only access upon payment of a fee. Once there, customers are able to download the photographs placed in this area to their computers. Some of these photographs were re-uploaded unlawfully by customers onto freely accessible websites. Relevant thumbnails were subsequently indexed on Google Images from such freely accessible sites. Acc...