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SerpApi’s motion to dismiss challenged Google’s use of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) against automated access to Google Search. A July 20, 2026 ruling, as described in secondary coverage, reportedly dismissed Google’s broad DMCA theory for ordinary search results but left Google 21 days to replead a narrower claim involving licensed Knowledge Panel images. That is a partial narrowing of the case—not a ruling that scraping is always lawful or that the dispute is over.
What Google accused SerpApi of doing
Google sued SerpApi in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on December 19, 2025. Its complaint alleges that SerpApi operates a paid Google Search API and used automated methods to get around SearchGuard, Google’s alleged anti-bot system. Google brought claims under DMCA sections 1201(a)(1)(A) and 1201(a)(2), which address circumvention of copyright access controls and trafficking in circumvention technology. These are anti-circumvention claims, not a conventional claim that SerpApi directly infringed Google-owned copyrights. Google’s complaint
Google alleges that SerpApi used simulated browsers, rotated IP addresses and crawler identities, handled JavaScript challenges, reused authorization tokens, and circumvented CAPTCHAs and other defenses. The complaint says the service extracted results and features including Knowledge Panels, Shopping, Maps, image, and real-time data, then resold the output to customers. Google also alleges hundreds of millions of artificial queries per day and growth of as much as 25,000% over two years. Those figures and descriptions are allegations, not findings established by the reported ruling. Google’s complaint
What SearchGuard is alleged to do
Google describes SearchGuard as sending a JavaScript challenge to requests it does not recognize. A browser can execute the challenge and return information to Google; Google alleges that SerpApi developed ways to make automated requests appear more like human-browser traffic. The distinction at the heart of the DMCA dispute is that detecting or restricting bots is not automatically the same thing as controlling access to a particular copyrighted work. The statute’s access-control provisions concern measures that effectively control access to a copyrighted work and are implemented with the copyright owner’s authority. Google’s complaint
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What SerpApi asked the court to dismiss
SerpApi filed its motion on February 20, 2026. It argued that Google was trying to use a copyright statute to protect a website and its commercial infrastructure, even though much of the material in Search comes from third parties. The motion raised several related but distinct questions. SerpApi’s explanation of its motion · Motion to dismiss
Standing and ownership
SerpApi argued that Google is a search intermediary and website operator, not the owner of most publisher text, photographs, merchant information, reviews, and other third-party material shown in results. It relied on the Supreme Court’s “zone of interests” framework in Lexmark International, Inc. v. Static Control Components, Inc. to argue that Google had not shown it could bring these DMCA claims over works it does not own. Motion to dismiss
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Authority to control access to licensed works
The DMCA definitions refer to a technological measure implemented with the copyright owner’s authority. SerpApi argued that Google had not adequately alleged that owners of third-party works authorized SearchGuard to control access to those works. The point is especially significant where Google licenses material rather than owns it. Motion to dismiss
Whether SearchGuard controls access to a protected work
SerpApi said a general gate on a search-results page does not necessarily control access to any one copyrighted work. A results page can mix links, facts, short text, publisher material, images, and structured data with different owners and copyright status. On this view, a system designed to screen automated traffic is not automatically a copyright access-control measure. Motion to dismiss
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SerpApi characterized browser imitation and JavaScript challenge handling as “mimicry,” not circumvention of encryption or scrambling. It also argued that people can view results in an ordinary browser without logging in and that much underlying information remains available on its original websites. These are SerpApi’s legal arguments, not settled rules. Its cited decisions do not resolve this case: hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn primarily concerned the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, while Impression Products v. Lexmark involved a different statutory and factual setting. Neither decision grants blanket permission to scrape or evade technical controls. SerpApi’s explanation · Motion to dismiss
What the court reportedly decided
Available secondary coverage says Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers issued an order on July 20, 2026. The actual order is not available in the cited account, so the procedural result should be treated as reported rather than independently confirmed here. According to that coverage, the court dismissed the DMCA claims as applied to ordinary search results without copyrighted content, while allowing Google 21 days to amend a narrower claim concerning licensed Knowledge Panel images. The same account says the court rejected SerpApi’s categorical standing argument and found Google had adequately alleged circumvention at the pleading stage. Report on the ruling
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| Issue | Reported status |
|---|---|
| DMCA theory involving ordinary search results without copyrighted content | Dismissed, according to the available secondary account |
| Claim concerning licensed Knowledge Panel images | Google reportedly had 21 days to amend |
| SerpApi’s categorical standing argument | Reportedly rejected |
| Whether Google adequately alleged circumvention at the pleading stage | Reportedly resolved against SerpApi’s argument |
| All potential liability for scraping | Not decided by the reported DMCA ruling |
The reporting does not establish whether Google filed an amended complaint within the reported period or what happened afterward. The public docket is identified as Google LLC v. SerpApi, LLC, but its current entries should be checked before treating the case as finished. CourtListener docket · Report on the ruling
Why the ruling is not a general scraping license
As reported, the ruling addresses whether Google’s particular DMCA theory fits ordinary search results and whether a narrower claim can be pleaded for licensed images. It does not decide every legal theory that can arise from automated access. Contract and terms-of-service claims, unauthorized-access claims, trespass-to-chattels theories, state-law unfair-competition claims, and claims by actual copyright owners may involve different facts and legal tests. The analysis may also differ for private, authenticated, or paywalled material.
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- It can be a gift option
- Comes with secure packaging
- Helpful in various ways
- A page viewable by a person is not necessarily free of contractual restrictions on automated use.
- Third-party images, reviews, product data, or licensed material can raise different issues from links and factual snippets.
- A DMCA ruling does not resolve privacy obligations or, outside the United States, jurisdiction-specific database rights.
- The ruling does not establish that bypassing a CAPTCHA is always lawful or that robots.txt directions are irrelevant.
What SEO, data, and AI businesses should take from the case
Rank tracking and search analytics
Rank trackers and competitive-intelligence products may take interest in the reported limit on using the DMCA for ordinary results, but they should not treat it as approval of their collection methods. Google can change challenges, limits, or result formats, and contract or other legal claims may remain available. A service’s ability to retrieve data today is not a guarantee of future continuity or permission to use it.
Search API customers
Buying data from SerpApi or another provider does not necessarily remove a customer’s own exposure. Review both the vendor contract and the relevant platform terms, including retention and redistribution rights. Assess whether the product stores copied images or only structured fields such as titles, URLs, rankings, or prices, and consider how the data will be used—for example, in advertising, profiling, AI systems, or resale.
An official API can offer a more clearly authorized route for some use cases, but it may not replicate all results or features available on Google.com. Google’s Custom Search JSON API and Programmable Search Engine have their own scope and terms; they are not necessarily substitutes for comprehensive SERP, Shopping, or local-results monitoring.
AI products
Search-result APIs can feed retrieval and research tools, so the dispute matters to AI companies that depend on current search data. But this lawsuit is not a definitive ruling on AI training, generated answers, or fair use. Those questions should not be inferred from the reported decision about SearchGuard and the DMCA.
The damages figure is not an award
Google’s complaint states a statutory-damages range of $200 to $2,500 per circumvention act. SerpApi reportedly calculated that applying assumptions about the alleged number of events could produce a theoretical figure of $7.06 trillion. That was SerpApi’s calculation under Google’s theory—not an award, an amount Google necessarily demanded, or a finding that the figure is recoverable. Google’s complaint · Search Engine Land’s report on the motion
Quick Recap
What to watch next
- Whether Google filed an amended pleading on the licensed Knowledge Panel image theory.
- Whether SerpApi responds with another motion or an answer, and whether discovery proceeds.
- Whether either party seeks further review of the reported order.
- How the separate litigation involving Reddit and scraping services develops; it is not resolved by this Google case.
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