Genius accuses Google of stealing lyrics and shows it with Morse code in apostrophes

The website Genius.com, which puts lyrics online and annotates, accuses Google of copying lyrics and displaying them in search results. The company shows this with a lyrics in which it had hidden a message via the apostrophes used.

Genius told The Wall Street Journal that visits to the site have declined because Google shows lyrics in search results when users search for songs. The search result does not mention a source, but according to WSJ it includes LyricFind. Google says in a statement to the business newspaper that it will investigate whether suppliers of data for the box with lyrics have copied texts in search results and if necessary terminate the contract with it. LyricFind claims it doesn’t take lyrics from Genius.

The site shows copying through the use of apostrophes in Alessia Cara’s Not Today. In it, the site alternated between straight and oblique apostrophes, which spell out the words “red handed” in Morse code, English for “red-handed.” Google turned out to display the text directly as on the Genius site, including pattern of Morse code. The Google version of the text now only displays straight apostrophes.

Genius reached out to Google more than two years ago about taking over the lyrics, but says the search giant has done nothing about it to date. The purpose of showing lyrics in the search results is to give users faster answers to the search query.