Genius Sues Google and LyricFind Over Stolen Song Lyrics. Genius recently filed a lawsuit seeking $50 million in combined damages from Google and LyricFind after catching them stealing lyrics “redhanded.”. The complaint alleges that Genius has been monitoring Google since as early as 2016, using an ingenious watermark method to track stolen lyrics. By using a carefully placed system of apostrophes in certain song lyrics, Genius found clear evidence of copying in 116 of the 301 songs they tested. . Genius set the 2nd, 5th, 13th, 14th, 16th and 20th apostrophes of each watermarked song as curly apostrophes, and all the other apostrophes straight … If the straight apostrophes are interpreted as dots and the curly apostrophes are interpreted as dashes, the pattern spells out 'REDHANDED' in Morse code, Genius, via ‘The Hollywood Reporter’. Although Google reportedly resolved the issue in April of 2019, Genius conducted additional watermark tests and found further evidence of copied lyrics. . Google’s knowing placement of lyrics Information Boxes containing content misappropriated from Genius’s website despite Google’s own professed disfavoring of copied content is deceptive and anticompetitive. , Genius, via ‘The Hollywood Reporter’
