US District Court Rejects Google’s DMCA Bid to Block SerpApi Scraping
On July 20, 2026, the Northern District of California dismissed Google's DMCA claims against SerpApi for scraping search results.
Why it matters: This ruling clarifies limits on the DMCA anti-circumvention provisions in web scraping cases, affecting strategies for digital content protection and compliance. Legal teams in tech and IP law should closely follow this evolving area of digital rights enforcement.
- July 20, 2026: US District Court, Northern District of California dismissed Google’s DMCA anti-circumvention claims against SerpApi.
- Court held that Google’s SearchGuard (anti-scraping tech) does not protect public search results lacking copyrighted content.
- Google may amend DMCA claims within 21 days concerning copyrighted Knowledge Panel images scraped by SerpApi.
- Google sued SerpApi in December 2025 for allegedly bypassing SearchGuard to scrape and resell search results.
- SerpApi CEO highlighted the decision’s importance for maintaining open access to public data online.
In a significant ruling for digital copyright and web scraping, the US District Court for the Northern District of California rejected Google's attempt to apply the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s (DMCA) anti-circumvention provisions against SerpApi, a company that provides an API for accessing Google search results.
Google’s December 2025 lawsuit alleged that SerpApi circumvented its SearchGuard technology — an anti-scraping tool designed to block automated data extraction — to scrape and resell Google search data, including some content Google claimed was copyrighted.
SerpApi challenged Google’s claims, arguing the DMCA should not bar scraping of public search result pages, which largely consist of third-party or public data not owned by Google. On July 20, 2026, the court sided with SerpApi.
The court ruled that SearchGuard does not effectively protect public search results that do not contain Google-owned copyrighted content. Therefore, Google’s DMCA anti-circumvention claims relating to these results were dismissed without leave to amend.
However, the court allowed Google 21 days to amend its claims regarding the use of copyrighted Knowledge Panel images — images Google licensed and asserted ownership over. The court noted Google had not sufficiently demonstrated authorization from copyright holders to apply SearchGuard protections to these images.
Julien Khaleghy, CEO of SerpApi, said, "We’re pleased that the court rejected Google’s attempts to expand the DMCA to control access to public pages. Open access to usable information drives innovation and ensures everyone benefits from the promise of data."
This case draws attention to ongoing legal tensions between owners of digital content and service providers performing automated data extraction. The ruling underscores the limited scope of DMCA anti-circumvention for publicly accessible web pages without proprietary copyright.
Legal practitioners advising on intellectual property, tech compliance, and litigation should note this precedent as it signals judicial skepticism about applying the DMCA to block routine web scraping of non-copyrighted data.
For more on the ruling, see overcentral.com’s coverage, which summarizes court findings and implications for web scraping legal frameworks.
By the numbers:
- July 20, 2026 — Date of US District Court ruling in Northern District of California
- 21 days — Time given to Google to amend claims regarding copyrighted images
- December 2025 — Google filed its lawsuit against SerpApi
Yes, but: While the court dismissed most of Google's claims, it left open the possibility to pursue DMCA claims related to copyrighted images, indicating that protections may still apply in limited contexts.
What's next: Google’s 21-day window to amend claims on Knowledge Panel images will test how courts balance copyright protection and public information access in future scraping cases.