people search engines can use available pictures: 123people wins court case

People search engine 123people is allowed to use pictures in its people search that are freely available on the Internet. A Hamburg court rejected a complaint in which the search engine was accused of illegally using the picture of a woman, who had not expressly allowed its use. “If the person shown in the picture did not block it from access by search engines and if the website is search engine optimized, it can be assumed that assent for publication through 123people has been given”, the court said. The picture shown by 123people originated in a company homepage, for which the plaintiff had given permission. By extension, it was reasonable that search engines used it as well, the court said. The decision is a great success for social media platforms in Germany and could lead to similar judgments in other European countries. Since March 2010, 123people belongs to the PagesJaunes Group. (Source: www.internetworld.de)