Since December 2014, Google has been able to display the title and lyrics of the song above the search results when entering the song title and lyrics on the search engine. However, a lyrics website Genius has recently accused Google of stealing its content from the site and reposting them to the search results without permission, with Genius claiming they caught the search engine “red-handed” thanks to Morse code embedded in their lyrics.
In 2016, Genius made a few changes to the punctuation in its song lyrics. Genius did this in a particular sequence, and that’s how Genius caught Google red-handed. While Google posting song lyrics are not at all a crime but lifting without permission, no doubt is. However, Genius claims that Google has been stealing the song lyrics directly from the Genius’s website. The evidence: Two forms of apostrophes embedded in Genius-housed lyrics.
Over the last two years, we’ve shown Google irrefutable evidence again and again that they are displaying lyrics copied from Genius – Ben Gross, chief strategy officer, Genius
However, Google denied stealing any lyrics. Instead, it claimed, the lyrics that show up in the “information panels” that pop up in a Google search are from licensed partners. Genius, however, says it found more than 100 examples of Google taking its content. According to a Google statement issued by The Verge, a Google spokeswoman confirmed that the information contained in the search results was licensed from a variety of sources.
