Google and Microsoft are blamed for file sharing sites linking

Blue Destiny Records, a mini music label, accuses Google and Microsoft of linking with file sharing sites. the search giants are allegedly "facilitating and enabling" the illegal distribution of copyrighted songs.

The lawsuit was filed Monday with a US federal court in Northern Florida. This suit appeared to be an attempt to choke off the distribution of Blue Destiny tunes on the file-sharing service RapidShare.

RapidShare is blamed for knowingly running "a distribution center for unlawful copies of copyrighted works," while Google and Microsoft are sued for underpinning the company. 

RapidShare benefits from advertising relationships with Google and Microsoft , according to the suit. 

But the overarching claim is that RapidShare is able to "achieve consistent prominent ranking in search engine results that direct users to websites where illegal 'free' copies of [Blue Destiny's] recordings may be stolen." 

US copyright law exempts companies from liability if they're merely linking to infringing content - but only if they're unaware of the infringement and don't receive financial benefit. The suit may highlight some intriguing differences between Google and Microsoft in this gray area of online copyright law.

 It would appear, however, that Google is not linking directly to such downloads. It links to RapidShare landing pages where the download urls are listed. 

Search engineers benefit financially as they generate ad revenue from search results. And both companies have received DMCA takedown notices requesting removal of the links in question.

According to court documents, Blue Destiny have attempted to remove the Google links in question via a DMCA takedown notice. But apparently, Google has not complied.