Google and Bing promise to make piracy sites less discoverable in UK

Google and Bing are making sites that facilitate copyright infringement less visible in the UK version of their search engines. Links to those sites no longer appear on the first page of search results. They do that voluntarily.

The UK Intellectual Property Office has agreed with Google, Microsoft, the British Phonographic Industry and Motion Picture Association. As of June 1, the search engines will make piracy sites less findable. Not only will sites whose search engines regularly receive reports of copyright infringement no longer appear on the first page of search results, but also piracy terms will disappear from the autocomplete list.

Although this is a voluntary code of conduct, the Intellectual Property Office will evaluate its implementation and propose new steps if necessary. “Search engines play an important role in helping consumers find content online. It is essential that they are shown links to legal sites and services and not links to piracy sites,” said Jo Johnson, Minister of State for the Department of Universities, Science, Research and Innovation.