Warner Bros. Records announced on Friday that it has filed suit against music streaming search engine, SeeqPod.  According to Ars Technica, the media giant claims that the search engine, though it does not host any of its available files, infringes on the copyrighted works of intellectual property owners.  

SeeqPod defends itself, using the DMCA’s “safe harbor” provision to protect it from lawsuits.

Under the provision, companies that only link intellectual property, and not host them, are protected from lawsuits.  The provision was meant to defend search engines that link to illegal websites, so long as the web service does not hand select certain material that can be linked.  Only as long as the service automatically links without specifically selecting the recipients of the material or the material itself, is it protected under the provision.

This lawsuit is very similar to other such as the suit against torrent website, The Pirate Bay, as well as lawsuits filed against Google.  The ongoing battle is truly one of definitions.  Is linking to copyrighted material as severe as hosting them.  The one side claims no, and the other claims that giving a vehicle to users to easily find copyrighted material is the same as hosting the material.

Under the DMCA’s “safe harbor” provision, and company that links to copyrighted material must be notified by the owner of said material and the material must either blocked or removed.  The provision only allows this measure to be taken for qualified companies rather than a lawsuit, or any monetary compensation.

SeeqPod is currently facing penalties of up to $150,000 per song for charges under both direct and secondary infringement.

In whichever way the argument turns, repeated lawsuits will begin narrowing the guidelines of the “safe harbor” provision and at least give us a more clear definition of the protection.