German Meta-Search Engine May Be Liable for Defamation

April 6, 2005 · by · in Derivative Liability, Search Engines

Einstmann v. Sharelook Beteiligungen GmbH, LG Berlin, No. 27 O 45/05, 2/22/05. Sorry I’m a little late in picking this up, but a German court has held that a meta-search engine could be liable for defamation. According to the news reports, it appears that the court thinks that the search engine should build a custom filter to avoid displaying the defamatory content, regardless of which search engine might have been the source. Case text (in German) [if anyone has an English translation, please advise]