Google and Reddit have faced legal setbacks in their attempts to block web scraping using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Both companies sued web scraper Serp Api, accusing it of circumventing anti-scraping technologies and unauthorized access to content. Google claimed Serp Api threatened relationships with rights holders who license content for "knowledge panels," while Reddit alleged scraping of its content appearing in Google results.

Meredith Rose of Public Knowledge described the DMCA usage as "bizarre" and not what the law originally intended. A court recently dismissed Google's lawsuit, ruling that Google lacked standing as it did not own the content in search results and hadn't demonstrated it was acting on behalf of rights holders. This ruling does not bode well for Reddit's similar case.

Google plans to amend its complaint, focusing on copyrighted content within its "knowledge panels." However, this strategy carries risks, potentially exposing Google to lawsuits if it's found to be reproducing unlicensed material. Serp Api maintains that Google and Reddit are attempting to "wall off the open Internet" and remains prepared to defend its principles and customers, including companies like Nvidia, Uber, and Adobe.