Judge dismisses most of Google's DMCA case against scraper SerpApi
What this answers
- Can Google use the DMCA to stop scrapers from feeding search results to AI tools?
- A federal judge mostly dismissed Google's DMCA anti-circumvention claims against scraper SerpApi in July 2026, ruling that Google's SearchGuard anti-bot system protects ad revenue, not a copyrighted work.
A federal judge dismissed most of Google’s DMCA anti-circumvention claims against scraper SerpApi, ruling that SearchGuard, Google’s anti-bot system, protects ad revenue rather than a copyrighted work, per Search Engine Journal. Chief Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the Northern District of California issued the July 20 ruling with prejudice on most claims, giving Google 21 days to refile a narrower claim limited to Knowledge Panel images.
Why it matters: The ruling narrows one of Google's legal tools against scrapers that feed AI answer engines, weakening anti-bot walls as a way to gate content from AI crawlers.
The record: GoogleAI training & copyright litigation
Posted to the wire July 28, 2026. Edited by Joe Balewski.