Study On The Copyright Issues Caused By Search Engine

With the development of the technology of search engine, search engine has become more and more popular, placed the second frequent internet service employed by internet users. However, not only the great profits are produced by search engine, but also a series of legal issues are aroused, especially the issues on copyright, which has been highlighted.This thesis focuses on the legal issues of copyright caused by search engine. Besides the preface and conclusion, there are five chapters in this thesis. In the first chapter, two cases are introduced, namely, lawsuit between Busheng Inc. v. Baidu Inc. and Field v. Google Inc.. Both national and international web searching service suppliers have encountered legal issues on copyright, which are caused by the use of search engine.The second chapter explains the theory of search engine, and introduces its classification system and developing trend. Moreover, the potential issues on copyright, which might be caused by search engine, are analyzed.The third chapter discusses the legal status of search engine suppliers and the tort liability. Different principles are conducted according to their various legal statuses. This thesis states that the status of the suppliers can be identified as ICP or ISP, depending on the service they supply.The infringement of copyright caused by the use of search engine is analyzed in chapter four. By analyzing the example of searching MP3 and pictures on internet, this thesis conducts the study on how to identify tort when employing the technology of link, and the web page cache.In the fifth chapter, mechanism of balancing interests between the search engine suppliers and the owners of copyright is probed into. After analysis of three methods, namely, copyright protection by personal behavior, by collective behavior, and by technology measure, a new mechanism of foundation for the copyright's owners is proposed in this thesis to balance the interests between the suppliers and owners.