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Google recently announced that it has filed a lawsuit against SerpApi for scraping search engine results. The search giant accuses SerpApi of operating illegally by bypassing security measures to harvest search data on an enormous scale.
According to Google, SerpApi’s business approach is highly parasitic. The company utilizes automated methods to scrape content from various services, generating billions of artificial search requests. These requests are then duplicated, sold, or used without compensating the original services for either the content or the computing costs associated with handling such immense traffic. Google asserts that SerpApi’s activities violate the terms of service and ignore access restrictions set by the services they scrape, often communicated through robots.txt files.
It is alleged that SerpApi employs hundreds of millions of fake search requests designed to mimic genuine user behavior. This sophisticated approach allows it to sidestep anti-bot measures such as CAPTCHAs, which are put in place by Google to protect against automated abuse.
SerpApi markets an API that provides access to Google Search data to third parties, a practice that Google views as deceptive because Google does not officially offer a public API of this nature. Essentially, SerpApi is providing an unauthorized backdoor to Google’s proprietary search engine.
Google maintains that its security protocols, such as SearchGuard, qualify as technological measures protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). By circumventing these protections, SerpApi allegedly infringes upon Section 1201 of the DMCA. The company also claims SerpApi breaches Google’s Terms of Service by employing automated scraping techniques and proxies to mask its identity.
The lawsuit highlights that SerpApi profits from Google’s extensive investment in organizing the world’s information without sharing any revenue or respecting established rules. Google estimates that SerpApi sends hundreds of millions of fake search requests each day, with the volume increasing by as much as 25,000% over two years.
Given SerpApi’s estimated annual revenue of a few million dollars, Google argues the company is unlikely to be able to pay the damages sought. The search giant states it is entitled to recover actual damages caused by SerpApi’s violations, along with additional profits earned from the activity. The damages could range from statutory amounts of $200 to $2,500 for each violation.
However, Google notes that SerpApi’s ability to pay these damages is doubtful, considering its revenue and the scale of the violations. This case is poised to make a significant impact within the SEO community as it unfolds.
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