In the US, certain file sharing websites or those that make copyright protected material available for free download, are issued with Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) copyright removal notices asking them to remove the offending content. However, some do not respond accordingly.
Until now, Google did not penalise those websites. Instead, its search algorithm looked at over 200 search signals, such as links referring back to a website, keywords, copy and the overall design, and those that infringe copyright had a level playing field in terms of where their websites appear in search results.
With the latest change to Google’s algorithm however, the search engine will penalise such websites by pushing them much farther down the search results page by looking at the number of valid copyright removal notices against the website.
Starting next week, if a website does not comply with the issued notices, legal powers will be able to ask to Google to move such websites down its search rankings.
BPI Chief Executive Geoff Taylor said: 'We have argued for some time that the fact that certain websites are subject to very high numbers of DMCA notifications, because they feature a large amount of illegal content, should be reflected in lower search rankings. Consumers overwhelmingly want and expect the top search results for entertainment content to feature legal, licensed services.
'We will look carefully at how much impact this change will have in practice, but we welcome the announcement from Google and will be pressing other search engines to follow suit.'
The change affects all the creative industries, as DMCA copyright removal notices are currently issued by any copyright holder, such as record labels and film studios.
Legitimate content publishers such as entertainment websites and blogs should not be affected so long as they stay on the right side of the law in regard to making copyright protected material available to stream or download. Google have also stated that they will 'continue to provide "counter-notice" tools so that those who believe their content has been wrongly removed can get it reinstated'.
Until now, Google did not penalise those websites. Instead, its search algorithm looked at over 200 search signals, such as links referring back to a website, keywords, copy and the overall design, and those that infringe copyright had a level playing field in terms of where their websites appear in search results.
With the latest change to Google’s algorithm however, the search engine will penalise such websites by pushing them much farther down the search results page by looking at the number of valid copyright removal notices against the website.
Starting next week, if a website does not comply with the issued notices, legal powers will be able to ask to Google to move such websites down its search rankings.
BPI Chief Executive Geoff Taylor said: 'We have argued for some time that the fact that certain websites are subject to very high numbers of DMCA notifications, because they feature a large amount of illegal content, should be reflected in lower search rankings. Consumers overwhelmingly want and expect the top search results for entertainment content to feature legal, licensed services.
'We will look carefully at how much impact this change will have in practice, but we welcome the announcement from Google and will be pressing other search engines to follow suit.'
The change affects all the creative industries, as DMCA copyright removal notices are currently issued by any copyright holder, such as record labels and film studios.
Legitimate content publishers such as entertainment websites and blogs should not be affected so long as they stay on the right side of the law in regard to making copyright protected material available to stream or download. Google have also stated that they will 'continue to provide "counter-notice" tools so that those who believe their content has been wrongly removed can get it reinstated'.
