Yahoo! suffers the condemnation of the Rome Court: the finger is pointed at links to streaming and piracy sites returned in the search results of Yahoo! Italy.
A ruling has arrived that is likely to generate much discussion: the Court of Rome has condemned Yahoo! Italia for having disseminated – through search results – links to streaming sites and/or sites of digital piracy. A clear violation of copyright which, although it was not primarily committed by Yahoo, nevertheless had repercussions on the search engine, guilty of not having proceeded with the removal of the links themselves.
It all started with the observation that the film “About Elly“, distributed in Italy by PFA, appeared in Yahoo!’s SERPs within streaming sites or sites through which it would have been possible to illegally download the film.
Therefore, PFA contacted Yahoo by formal notice letter, requesting the removal of such links, especially since the official website of the film in question did not appear among the top search results, as would have been legitimate and correct.
Thus, after Yahoo’s silence regarding the complaint, PFA filed a formal complaint, culminating in the condemnation of the search engine.
The IX Section of the Court of Rome indeed found Yahoo! guilty of not having removed the illegal links after notification from the copyright holders themselves.
Obviously, Yahoo cannot be held responsible for the insertion of illicit links on the web and their ranking in the SERPs, however, the omission to control and react to PFA’s requests caused both the lawsuit and the conviction.
Tullio Camiglieri of Open Gate Italia, the company that assisted PFA during the judicial process, expressed an opinion on the matter: “The Court of Rome has established a fundamental principle to protect the entire cultural production: cinema, publishing, music, newspapers. Those who invest in culture, information, and entertainment have the right to see their work protected.”
Furthermore, given the importance of this ruling and the possibility that a path has been opened to protect legitimate rights even in this sector, Camiglieri appears to have no doubt about the subjects who, in the future, could be affected by similar measures: “the next targets will be Google and YouTube.”
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