Sandra S. Ikuta

“ It is designed to enhance an individual’s computer use, not to supersede the copyright holders’ exploitation of their works. Such automatic background copying has no more than a minimal effect on Perfect 10’s rights, but a considerable public benefit. Because the four fair use factors weigh in favor of concluding that cache copying constitutes a fair use, Google has established a likelihood of success on this issue. Accordingly, Perfect 10 has not carried its burden of showing that users’ cache copies of Perfect 10’s full-size images constitute direct infringement. ”

“ A user’s personal computer has an internal cache that saves copies of webpages and images that the user has recently viewed so that the user can more rapidly revisit these webpages and images. Google’s computers also have a cache which serves a variety of purposes. Among other things, Google’s cache saves copies of a large number of webpages so that Google’s search engine can efficiently organize and index these webpages. ”

“ In other words, Google’s cache copy could provide a user’s browser with valid directions to an infringing image even though the updated webpage no longer includes that infringing image.
In addition to its search engine operations, Google generates revenue through a business program called “AdSense.” Under this program, the owner of a website can register with Google to become an AdSense “partner.” The website owner then places HTML instructions on its webpages that signal Google’s server to place advertising on the webpages that is relevant to the webpages’ content. ”

“ In sum, based on the plain language of the statute, a person displays a photographic image by using a computer to fill a computer screen with a copy of the photographic image fixed in the computer’s memory. There is no dispute that Google’s computers store thumbnail versions of Perfect 10’s copyrighted images and communicate copies of those thumbnails to Google’s users. ”

“ No images are stored on a webpage; rather, the HTML instructions on the webpage provide an address for where the images are stored, whether in the webpage publisher’s computer or some other computer. In general, webpages are publicly available and can be accessed by computers connected to the Internet through the use of a web browser. ”

“ We evaluate Perfect 10’s arguments that Google is vicariously liable in light of the direct infringement that is undisputed by the parties, namely, the third-party websites’ reproduction, display, and distribution of unauthorized copies of Perfect 10’s images on the Internet. ”

“ Having undertaken a case-specific analysis of all four factors, we now weigh these factors together “in light of the purposes of copyright.” Campbell, 510 U.S. at 578, 114 S.Ct. 1164; see also Kelly, 336 F.3d at 818 (“We must balance [the section 107] factors in light of the objectives of copyright law, rather than view them as definitive or determinative tests.”) . In this case, Google has put Perfect 10’s thumbnail images (along with millions of other thumbnail images) to a use fundamentally different than the use intended by Perfect 10. ”

“ Google’s use of thumbnails is highly transformative. In Kelly, we concluded that Arriba’s use of thumbnails was transformative because “Arriba’s use of the images serve [d] a different function than Kelly’s use—improving access to information on the [I] nternet versus artistic expression.” Kelly, 336 F.3d at 819. Although an image may have been created originally to serve an entertainment, aesthetic, or informative function, a search engine transforms the image into a pointer directing a user to a source of information. ”

“ Google’s computer program selects the advertising automatically by means of an algorithm. AdSense participants agree to share the revenues that flow from such advertising with Google.
Google also generated revenues through an agreement with Amazon.com that allowed Amazon.com to in-line link to Google’s search results. Amazon.com gave its users the impression that Amazon.com was providing search results, but Google communicated the search results directly to Amazon.com’s users. ”

“ We agree; even assuming such automatic copying could constitute direct infringement, it is a fair use in this context. The copying function performed automatically by a user’s computer to assist in accessing the Internet is a transformative use. Moreover, as noted by the district court, a cache copies no more than is necessary to assist the user in Internet use. ”

“ Section 101 defines “copies” as “material objects, other than phonorecords, in which a work is fixed by any method now known or later developed, and from which the work can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.” ”

“ See id. at 929–30, 125 S.Ct. 2764 (“When a widely shared service or product is used to commit infringement, it may be impossible to enforce rights in the protected work effectively against all direct infringers, the only practical alternative being to go against the distributor of the copying device for secondary liability on a theory of contributory or vicarious infringement.”) ”

“ Life Ins. Co., 618 F.2d 1340, 1347 (9th Cir. 1980) ; Restatement (Second) of Torts § 8A cmt. b (1965) (“If the actor knows that the consequences are certain, or substantially certain, to result from his act, and still goes ahead, he is treated by the law as if he had in fact desired to produce the result.”) . When the Supreme Court imported patent law’s “staple article of commerce doctrine” into the copyright context, it also adopted these principles of imputed intent. Grokster, 545 U.S. at 932, 125 S.Ct. ”

“ See Napster, 239 F.3d at 1013 n. 2 (“Secondary liability for copyright infringement does not exist in the absence of direct infringement by a third party.”) . ↑ Napster’s system included “Napster’s MusicShare software, available free of charge from Napster’s Internet site, and Napster’s network servers and server-side software.” Napster, 239 F.3d at 1011. By downloading Napster’s MusicShare software to the user’s personal computer, and registering with the Napster system, a user could both upload and download music files. ”

“ L.A. County Sheriff’s Dep’t, 447 F.3d 769, 778–82 (9th Cir.2006) (using a copy to save the cost of buying additional copies of a computer program was not a fair use) . [8]
As noted in Campbell, a “transformative work” is one that alters the original work “with new expression, meaning, or message.” Campbell, 510 U.S. at 579, 114 S.Ct. 1164. “A use is considered transformative only where a defendant changes a plaintiff’s copyrighted work or uses the plaintiff’s copyrighted work in a different context such that the plaintiff’s work is transformed into a new creation.” Wall Data, 447 F.3d at 778. ”