> Of course, there is a bit of irony in the complaint by Genius too. The company got its start by stealing lyrics from other sites and only started licensing the lyrics after it faced legal pressure.
Not only song lyrics, for a while they were re-hosting and annotating peoples own web pages.
Guess this is Genius making a play to be a certified (and paid) Google partner for lyrics, which would make sense since they don't have any other business model.
> A few years ago, Google began supplementing search results with ‘information panels, as Google calls them, and these panels have been using lyrics from Genius.com without compensation.
> Of course, there is a bit of irony in the complaint by Genius too. The company got its start by stealing lyrics from other sites and only started licensing the lyrics after it faced legal pressure.
Is Genius even entitled to compensation here? Maybe they can get some concession from Google for breaking their terms of service. But it seems like if anyone is going to get paid, it should be the songwriters from whom Genius is licensing the lyrics, not Genius themselves.
> Besides if anyone has a case here it’s the authors of the lyrics, not Genius.
But wouldn't this be like shoplifting from Blockbuster (back in the day)? Blockbuster doesn't "own" any of their movies, but they own their copy of the movie, so if you steal it they can still sue you.
Genius licenses their content (lyrics) from the authors of the lyrics, and makes it easy for people to find. Google took the content from Genius directly, without compensation and without changing the content (it's not a derivative).
So Google "stole" content from Genius, even if they aren't the owners of the content.
Whether this has any legal standing or not, I have no clue.
This is a repost. Short summary of the prior discussion:
Google may or may not be stealing, but if they are, it's not from Genius. Whether or not Google can show lyrics under Fair Use is an open question, but if not, the party whose rights are being violated are the artists and their publishers, not Genius.
Genius has no particular special rights to the lyrics. IP law grants specific protection: copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, etc. Beyond that, it doesn't extend protection. If I compile a strictly factual, numerical data set and post it on my web site, for example, that usually has no protection. You can download it, repost it, share it, etc.
Limits on IP are generally considered a good thing. With IP, a little is good. A lot is stifling to an open society.
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[ 2.3 ms ] story [ 25.9 ms ] threadNot only song lyrics, for a while they were re-hosting and annotating peoples own web pages.
Guess this is Genius making a play to be a certified (and paid) Google partner for lyrics, which would make sense since they don't have any other business model.
> Of course, there is a bit of irony in the complaint by Genius too. The company got its start by stealing lyrics from other sites and only started licensing the lyrics after it faced legal pressure.
Is Genius even entitled to compensation here? Maybe they can get some concession from Google for breaking their terms of service. But it seems like if anyone is going to get paid, it should be the songwriters from whom Genius is licensing the lyrics, not Genius themselves.
Besides if anyone has a case here it’s the authors of the lyrics, not Genius.
But wouldn't this be like shoplifting from Blockbuster (back in the day)? Blockbuster doesn't "own" any of their movies, but they own their copy of the movie, so if you steal it they can still sue you.
Genius licenses their content (lyrics) from the authors of the lyrics, and makes it easy for people to find. Google took the content from Genius directly, without compensation and without changing the content (it's not a derivative).
So Google "stole" content from Genius, even if they aren't the owners of the content.
Whether this has any legal standing or not, I have no clue.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/lyrics-site-genius-com-accuses-...
It includes responses from Google and LyricFind.
Google may or may not be stealing, but if they are, it's not from Genius. Whether or not Google can show lyrics under Fair Use is an open question, but if not, the party whose rights are being violated are the artists and their publishers, not Genius.
Genius has no particular special rights to the lyrics. IP law grants specific protection: copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, etc. Beyond that, it doesn't extend protection. If I compile a strictly factual, numerical data set and post it on my web site, for example, that usually has no protection. You can download it, repost it, share it, etc.
Limits on IP are generally considered a good thing. With IP, a little is good. A lot is stifling to an open society.