Pornography Site Sues Google for IP Claims

Perfect 10, a California-based publisher of "adult content," claims that Google has benefited from "stolen content" sites and filed suit against Google for 12 counts of intellectual property violations.  According to the LA Times, the company claims it sent 27 requests to Google asking it to remove links to websites that illegally distributed Perfect 10's content.  Perfect 10 said that Google's response has been unsatisfactory and that Google provides links to 800,000 unauthorized versions of Perfect 10's photos.  Google has declined to comment on the case, which involves allegations of unfair competition as well as copyright, trademark, and right of publicity infringements.  The suit is the first of its kind for the search engine behemoth and could raise questions about DMCA safe-harbor provisions as well as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.  Legal commentary by Executive Director John Palfrey appears on his blog.