Search engine liability arising from third parties infringing content: a path to strict liability?

The Civil Court of Appeal, Division ‘J’ of the City of Buenos Aires reversed the first instance court decision and ordered Google and Yahoo! to pay amounts of AR$75 000 and AR$15 000, respectively, plus interest after finding the defendants liable for moral damage caused to a famous Argentinean actress by having her name and image associated with web-pages containing sexual, erotic and pornographic content. This content appeared listed in Google and Yahoo! search results when her name was entered in the search bar. They also ordered the defendants to eliminate the actress's name and image from the search results. The Civil Court of Appeal considered that search engine ‘spiders’ and their activity are ‘risky’ themselves and, therefore that the regime of strict liability for the resulting damages should be applicable. The defendants filed an extraordinary appeal which has been recently rejected.