Search engine operators may be liable for breach of duty of care for "snippets"

Munich Higher Regional Court held in a recent ruling (April 27, 2015, Case 18 W 591/15) that even short text excerpts from a website on the results page of a search listing (referred to as "snippets") may infringe third-party rights. As a consequence, Google may be liable

Munich Higher Regional Court held in a recent ruling (April 27, 2015, Case 18 W 591/15) that even short text excerpts from a website on the results page of a search listing (referred to as "snippets") may infringe third-party rights. As a consequence, Google may be liable under the principles of breach of duty of care for presenting snippets containing untrue statements. Practical tip: Those affected do not usually need to contact the website operator linked in the snippet, but instead can directly request the search engine operator to delete the right-infringing snippet and the link to the relevant website from the search results.

Practical tip: Those affected do not usually need to contact the website operator linked in the snippet, but instead can directly request the search engine operator to delete the right-infringing snippet and the link to the relevant website from the search results.