Reddit keeps its strange DMCA fight over Google search results alive

Key Points:

• A US judge denied most of SerpApi's motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging it conspired with Perplexity AI to scrape copyrighted Reddit content from Google search results, allowing Reddit's conspiracy claim to proceed.
• Judge Engelmayer found Reddit plausibly alleged that SerpApi provided tools to circumvent Google's access controls and that Perplexity AI paid for such access, despite a recent dismissal of a similar Google lawsuit.
• Reddit argues its licensing deals with Google require deletion of flagged posts, and unauthorized scraping by SerpApi and Perplexity AI undermines Reddit’s ability to honor content removals, harming its reputation and profits.
• Reddit seeks injunctions to block SerpApi and Perplexity AI from accessing Reddit and Google sites, from circumventing Google's protections, and from using previously scraped data, aiming to enforce licensing agreements on AI scrapers.
• SerpApi maintains its defense that it accesses only public search results, not Reddit’s platform, and that public information is not protected simply because a platform wants to monetize it; the legal battle is ongoing with discovery expected to clarify authorization and copyright issues.