With a new report, Google has now presented its measures for protecting intellectual property and released figures on its actions against online piracy. According to the report, Google rejected more than ten million ads last year due to suspected IP violations. In addition, the company excluded over 95% of the ca. 880 million websites from its advertising network that were reported by IP-rights holders for copyright infringements in 2017.
According to the report named How Google Fights Piracy, Google is pursuing a two-pronged strategy against copyright infringements on the web: Firstly, the US company wants to deprive fraudsters of sources of money. For this, Google deletes suspicious advertisements from its network and also stops placing ads on copyright-infringing websites. Secondly, Google aims to create alternatives to illegal content for users.
Right holders have the opportunity to report suspected infringements via an online form. Subsequently, around three billion Internet addresses are reported to have been removed from the search engine since 2011. For right holders who want to report infringements frequently, Google also offers its Trusted Copyright Removal Program (TCRP). According to the company, its 178 program partners are responsible for the majority of the incoming leads.
Cedric Manara, Google’s Head of Copyright, believes that these anti-piracy measures are highly effective: “Around the world, online piracy has been decreasing, while spending on legitimate content is rising across content categories.” Overall, Google is “doing more to fight back against online piracy than ever before.”
Critics of the company consider Google’s statement on the fight against online piracy as less promising. For example in Australia, the company is currently under pressure to do more for copyright protection; now, new legislation is to make search engines such as Google more accountable. According to Graham Burke, chairman of the association Creative Content Australia, this was about time: “They know what they’re doing. They know they’re facilitating and enabling crime and it’s time for them to clean their act up.”
