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Lynn Bayard and Darren Johnson Publish Article in The National Law Journal
October 29, 2007 Full PDF
Litigation partner Lynn Bayard and associate Darren Johnson published an article titled "9th Circuit Finds 'Thumbnail' Photos Display Fair Use" in the IP section of the October 29 issue of The National Law Journal. The article explores a recent decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Perfect 10 Inc. v. Amazon.com Inc., which addressed the closely followed question of whether the display of "thumbnail" versions of copyrighted photographs by Google's image search engine constitutes copyright infringement or "fair use" under the Copyright Act. According to the article, the Ninth Circuit held that Google had, in fact, directly infringed Perfect 10's rights by displaying the thumbnails, but nevertheless held that Google's use of the thumbnails was a fair one because of its highly transformative nature. The article discusses in detail the basis for the court's holding and further explores other aspects of the decision, including issues related to secondary liability and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's limitations on injunctive relief.