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`SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
`COUNTY OF KINGS
`
`GENIUS MEDIA GROUP INC.,
`
`Index No._________________
`
`Plaintiff,
`
`SUMMONS
`
`-against-
`
`GOOGLE LLC and LYRICFIND,
`
`Defendants.
`
`Plaintiff designates Kings County as
`the place of trial
`
`Venue is proper pursuant to CPLR
`§503
`
`To the Above-Named Defendants:
`
`YOU ARE SUMMONED to answer the Complaint in this action and to serve a copy of
`
`your Answer, or, if the Complaint is not served with this Summons, to serve a Notice of
`
`Appearance, on the plaintiffs attorneys within twenty (20) days after the service of this Summons,
`
`exclusive of the day of service (or within thirty (30) days after the service is complete if this
`
`Summons is not personally delivered to you within the State of New York); and in the case of your
`
`failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded
`
`in the Complaint.
`
`Dated: New York, New York
`December 3, 2019
`
`PRYOR CASHMAN LLP
`
`Irene S. Farkas
`Benjamin K. Semel
`Marion R. Harris
`Kaveri Arora
`7 Times Square
`New York, New York 10036
`(212) 421-4100
`ifarkas@pryorcashman.com
`bsemel@pryorcashman. com
`mharris@pryorcashman. com
`karora@pryorcashman. com
`
`Attorneys for Plaintiff
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`TO:
`
`Google LLC
`c/o New York Secretary of State (pursuant to N.Y. LLC Law § 303)
`
`LyricFind
`40 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 400
`Toronto, Ontario M4P 3A2
`CANADA
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`SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
`COUNTY OF KINGS
`
`GENIUS MEDIA GROUP INC.,
`
`Index No.
`
`Plaintiff,
`
`-against-
`
`GOOGLE LLC and LYRICFIND,
`
`Defendants.
`
`VERIFIED COMPLAINT
`
`Plaintiff Genius Media Group, Inc. (“Genius”), as and for its Complaint against defendants
`
`Google LLC (“Google”) and LyricFind (each a “Defendant” and collectively, “Defendants”)
`
`alleges as follows:
`
`NATURE OF THE ACTION
`
`1.
`
`Genius is a digital media company connecting music fans across the internet. One
`
`of Genius’s primary services is the development and maintenance of a vast repository of annotated
`
`music lyrics, some of which are artist-supplied and many of which are transcribed and refined by
`
`a community of over two million Genius contributors.
`
`2.
`
`Defendants Google LLC and LyricFind have been caught red-handed
`
`misappropriating content from Genius’s website, which they have exploited—and continue to
`
`exploit—for their own financial benefit and to Genius’s financial detriment.
`
`3.
`
`When repeatedly confronted by Genius with incontrovertible evidence regarding
`
`their conduct, Defendants assigned blame elsewhere but otherwise continued their unlawful
`
`behavior.
`
`4.
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`Only after Defendants’ conduct became public in a Wall Street Journal article did
`
`Defendants purport to address their misappropriation of content from Genius’s website.
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`5.
`
`Defendants’ responses, however—largely platitudes of “high standards” and “best
`
`practices”—ring hollow, and Defendants continue to exploit content misappropriated from
`
`Genius’s website while apparently attempting to conceal that misappropriation.
`
`6.
`
`This action seeks to halt Defendants’ unethical and unfair anticompetitive practices,
`
`as well as to recover damages for violations of Genius’s Terms of Service as a result of defendants’
`
`misappropriation.
`
`THE PARTIES
`
`7.
`
`Plaintiff Genius Media Group, Inc. is a Delaware corporation with its principal
`
`place of business at 92 Third Street, Brooklyn, New York 11231.
`
`8.
`
`Upon information and belief, Defendant LyricFind is a Canadian company with its
`
`principal place of business in Toronto, Ontario.
`
`9.
`
`LyricFind describes itself as the “world’s leader in legal lyric solutions.” It purports
`
`to maintain a “quality-controlled, vetted database of . . . lyrics available for licensing and service
`
`to over 200 countries.”
`
`10. While not registered to do business in New York State, LyricFind nonetheless, upon
`
`information and belief, maintains an office and has employees within the state, including, for
`
`example, its Vice President of International Publishing. Upon information and belief, LyricFind
`
`also has employees in California.
`
`11. Moreover, upon information and belief, LyricFind regularly contracts and conducts
`
`business—including licensing of lyrics or the provision of its lyrics-related services—with
`
`counterparties located in the States of New York and California.
`
`12.
`
`Upon information and belief, in or about June 2016, LyricFind entered into an
`
`agreement with Google whereby LyricFind provides lyrics to Google for use in (at least) Google’s
`
`search results.
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`13.
`
`Google LLC is a Delaware limited liability company with its principal place of
`
`business at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, California 94043.
`
`14.
`
`Google LLC owns and operates, among other products, Google Search (a/k/a
`
`Google Web Search), the internet’s dominant search platform.
`
`15.
`
`Google LLC is registered to do business in the State of New York and maintains
`
`offices at 111 Eighth Avenue, New York, New York 10011.
`
`I.
`
`Genius and the Market for Accurate Music Lyrics
`
`FACTUAL BACKGROUND
`
`16.
`
`Founded in 2009 as “Rap Exegesis,” Genius has become a preeminent source of
`
`lyrics for music and is a preferred destination for major publications when reporting on or
`
`analyzing lyrics.
`
`17.
`
`It is commonly assumed that music lyrics are provided by music publishers and/or
`
`record labels in connection with the release of new music. In the age of digital distribution,
`
`however, that is rarely the case.
`
`18.
`
`Rather, while the music publishers and/or songwriters usually own the copyright in
`
`the lyrics for a given song, they do not generally maintain a catalog of lyrics transcriptions.
`
`Companies that license lyrics for display from music publishers (like Genius and LyricFind) do
`
`not typically receive any actual lyrics transcriptions in connection with their licensing agreements.
`
`19.
`
`Genius provides a platform for music enthusiasts who transcribe music lyrics, and
`
`also obtains lyrics through partnerships with artists who provide their lyrics directly to Genius.
`
`Genius, in turn, obtains licenses from music publishers permitting the display and distribution of
`
`these lyrics.
`
`20. Members of the Genius community are music enthusiasts. Lyrics transcription is
`
`an arduous task that often requires genre experts to repeatedly listen to songs in order to produce
`
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`accurate transcriptions.1 Lyrics transcription on Genius is also a collaborative activity—multiple
`
`members of the Genius community are able to work on a single lyrics transcription simultaneously.
`
`Genius has invested ten years and tens of millions of dollars to build the technology and
`
`community that supports collaborative lyrics transcription. The high quality and ready availability
`
`of lyrics on Genius are a direct result of this technology and Genius’s engaged community of users.
`
`21.
`
`Genius moderates the quality of content on its website, including music lyrics,
`
`through the use of an “IQ” system, through which registered Genius users earn IQ points based on
`
`quality contributions, as determined by other Genius users. A higher number of IQ points for a
`
`registered Genius user translates into greater ability to add, edit and/or annotate lyrics on the
`
`Genius website.
`
`22.
`
`Genius earns revenue in several ways. Significantly, Genius partners with major
`
`companies, such as Apple, to license its database of high-quality lyrics. Genius also generates ad
`
`revenue through web traffic on its website and apps, sales of pre-roll video commercials on
`
`YouTube, and production of custom content and events for major brands.
`
`23. Many Genius users arrive at its website after using a search engine—most typically,
`
`Google’s search engine—to find lyrics for a given song. Genius is often the top-ranked organic
`
`search result on Google for lyrics search queries (e.g., selena gomez lose you to love me lyrics.)2
`
`1 Chief Justice Roberts of the Supreme Court of the United States acknowledged as much when he quoted a lyric
`from the liner notes of Bob Dylan’s song “Like a Rolling Stone” in a 2008 decision. The liner notes read “When you
`got nothing, you got nothing to lose”, while the song as performed adds an extra word “ain’t”: “When you ain’t got
`nothing, you got nothing to lose.” The lyrics that appear on the Genius website include the word “ain’t”, as
`performed in the actual recording. See https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/23/us/politics/how-does-it-feel-chief-
`justice-roberts-to-hone-a-dylan-quote.html
`2 “Organic search results” are defined by Google “[a] free listing in Google Search that appears because it’s relevant
`to someone’s search terms.” The term is used infra to distinguish between free listings in Google Search and
`Google’s Information Box results.
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`24.
`
`All users that visit Genius’s website, regardless of whether a user registers for an
`
`account with Genius, are bound by its Terms of Service, which are accessible to users from all
`
`pages of the Genius website.
`
`II.
`
`Google’s Lyrics Information Box
`
`25.
`
`Google operates the internet’s dominant search engine. In a given month, a
`
`majority of visitors to Genius’s website arrive via Google search.
`
`26.
`
`In Google’s 2004 initial public offering materials, co-founder Larry Page claimed:
`
`“We want you to come to Google and quickly find what you want. Then we’re happy to send you
`
`to the other sites. . . . We want to get you out of Google and to the right place as fast as possible.”
`
`27.
`
`Notwithstanding this public statement, upon information and belief, Google has
`
`since altered its search product in a manner designed to keep users on Google-owned properties,
`
`such as YouTube, rather than send them to third-party sites. Indeed, according to a study published
`
`in 2019, more than half of Google searches do not result in a click to visit another website.
`
`Moreover, approximately 14% of searches that do result in a click to another website are in fact
`
`clicks to visit other Google-owned properties.
`
`28.
`
`Upon information and belief, in 2009, Google added a feature to its search products
`
`in some categories that it calls an “Information Box,” which is displayed above, alongside or
`
`interwoven with organic search results on select search engine results pages, depending on a given
`
`search query. For example, if a Google user queries the name of a celebrity, the search engine
`
`results page will often display an Information Box that provides select information regarding that
`
`celebrity, along with a link to another website (e.g. Wikipedia) to view more information. A user
`
`desiring more information would then either click the link or click through to one of the organic
`
`search results linked on the page.
`
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`29.
`
`Upon information and belief, Google expanded its Information Box product to
`
`lyrics search results in or about December 2014. Currently, when a Google user queries the name
`
`of a song together with “lyrics,” (e.g., lose you to love me lyrics) the search engine results page
`
`may display an Information Box above all other organic search results showing the complete lyrics
`
`for the requested song. Unlike the preceding celebrity search example, lyrics Information Boxes
`
`display the full lyrics to songs and do not provide click-through links that provide additional
`
`content.
`
`30. When virtually all mobile users and many desktop users search for song lyrics, and
`
`Google returns an Information Box containing the requested song lyrics, the Information Box is
`
`displayed in such a manner that the user cannot see any other search results without first scrolling
`
`down, as shown below.
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`Google
`lose you 10 love me lyrics
`an
`'«-I--'. :r
`
`Portion of lyrics search
`‘— results visible on an
`Apple iPhone 11 Pro
`I
`before scrollIng
`
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`
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`
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`ti ena IJ'I‘f‘I“: Losr; 'v'.\-.. In
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`
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`
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`
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`
`*Screenshot from: November 26, 20‘?
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`31. Moreover, Google’s lyrics Information Boxes frequently appear in search results
`
`as a part of larger search features that include links to Google-owned revenue-generating products,
`
`such as YouTube and Google Play, as shown below. Specifically, many lyrics Information Boxes
`
`prompt users to play the music video on YouTube or stream the song on Google Play.
`
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`Gm. git
`
`l::~l m. Eur” m.
`
`.
`
`g S
`
`elena Gomez - Lose You To Love Me (Ulficual Mum: Video .
`--.\.;., "\vmumlnlpv .-.— w.-
`
`Lyrics misappropriated
`
`‘
`
`from Genius's website
`
`unaim: m.
`VENT-”0W“!
`:lecmhmn
`
`win-“mar u-m
`vau‘clmw
`[Ev-IIJYI-uSah-nh
`
`'LILHIRIJIMI.’ um
`(0.1.:IJRMl‘I'filk
`"minim:
`
`Link to Genius in
`
`organic search results
`
`
`
`Loan Ya” I
`
`l
`
`
`.\
`, , "
`
`"W?f°f""°“11t21¥f ._
`
`Wench Selena infl'
`uTOLmME'NRMM
`
`.
`rm )rr')|}-----..=uv.
`
`.
`
`Tu Lave Me Lynch I Genius Lyrics
`
`.m - *SCI'BEI'IShOt from: November 25. 2019
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`32.
`
`In other words, in the competition for users on the internet, Google has designed its
`
`lyrics Information Box in a way that discourages users from seeking another result, and, in many
`
`cases, directs them toward other revenue-generating Google products.
`
`III. Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines (“SQEG”)
`
`33.
`
`Since its founding in 1998, Google has faced numerous inquiries from competition
`
`authorities worldwide concerning actual or potential unfair competition by Google regarding the
`
`manner in which it displays and ranks search results.3
`
`34.
`
`Given Google’s dominance in the internet search market—comprising more than
`
`85% of the internet search engine market in the United States in 2018—a website’s placement on
`
`Google’s search engine results pages is a material consideration to both its web traffic and revenue.
`
`35.
`
`The precise algorithm by which websites are ranked on Google’s search engine
`
`results page is a closely-guarded company secret. Part of that algorithm, however, relies on the
`
`work of thousands of “Search Quality Evaluators,” with whom Google contracts to assess the
`
`quality of the results provided by the Google search engine. The assessments from these
`
`evaluators, in turn, inform adjustments to Google’s search results ranking algorithm.
`
`36.
`
`To assist Search Quality Evaluators in assessing the results of Google’s search
`
`engine, Google has published a 167-page “Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines” (SQEG), which
`
`it last updated in September 2019. See Google Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, dated Sept.
`
`5, 2019 (attached hereto as Exhibit A).
`
`37. With respect to lyrics websites, like Genius, that appear organically on Google’s
`
`search engine results pages, the SQEG instructs evaluators to score those website results as
`
`3 Indeed, Google is currently under antitrust investigation in the United States by 50 attorneys general and is
`also facing antitrust probes from the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Department of Justice.
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`“Moderately Meeting” a lyric-searching user’s intent, noting that “many pages [on lyrics websites]
`
`are not 100% accurate.”
`
`38.
`
`For the lyrics appearing in Google’s own Information Boxes, however, evaluators
`
`are instructed to score the results as “Fully Meeting” a lyric-searching user’s intent—the highest
`
`possible score an evaluator may assign.
`
`39.
`
`The disconnect in the SQEG’s rating guidance for Google’s own lyrics Information
`
`Box versus websites like Genius appears to rely on the assumption that Google’s lyrics Information
`
`Box content is more accurate.
`
`40.
`
`That assumption, however, does not bear out, as the lyrics featured in Google’s
`
`Information Boxes are often inaccurate and, upon information and belief, Google takes no steps to
`
`either verify the accuracy of the data from its lyrics Information Box or establish the inaccuracy
`
`of lyrics appearing on competing websites such as Genius.
`
`41.
`
`For example, as shown below, Google’s Information Box results display inaccurate
`
`lyrics for the song “Perfectly Wrong” performed by Shawn Mendes. Genius’s website, on the
`
`other hand, displays the accurate lyrics.
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`42. Moreover, many of the lyrics sites that Google deems of suspect accuracy license
`
`lyrics data from the same vendors Google contracts with to supply lyrics to its own lyrics
`
`Information Boxes. Notably, the lyrics site azlyrics.com, which is used in the SQEG example
`
`described in paragraph 37 above, is powered by lyrics data vendor Musixmatch. Musixmatch is,
`
`upon information and belief, a lyrics data vendor used by Google to provide lyrics for its lyrics
`
`Information Boxes.
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`43.
`
`Elsewhere in its SQEG, Google makes clear that it places little to no value on copied
`
`content:
`
`The Lowest rating is appropriate if all or almost all of the [Main Content] on the
`page is copied with little or no time, effort, expertise, manual curation, or added
`value for users. Such pages should be rated Lowest, even if the page assigns credit
`for the content to another source.
`
`44.
`
`Accordingly, based on Google’s own guidance to search evaluators, a reasonable
`
`person would expect that Google’s search engine would disfavor copied content obtained without
`
`permission and consequently rank it lower on search engine results pages.
`
`45.
`
`In reality, however, upon information and belief, Google’s Information Box lyrics
`
`results are displayed above all other search results without regard to their accuracy and without
`
`any evaluation of whether they are copied from another source, such as Genius’s website.
`
`IV. Genius Suspects Misappropriation
`
`46.
`
`In 2014, when Google initially rolled out its Information Box feature in lyrics
`
`search results, Genius observed that the lyrics results were often inaccurate.
`
`47. When Genius observed lyrics Information Boxes that were accurate, Genius also
`
`observed that the lyrics in those Information Boxes were sometimes identical, on a character-for-
`
`character basis, with those displayed on Genius’s website.
`
`48.
`
`As previously discussed, given the fact that most lyrics are transcribed after
`
`listening to the sound recording, it is highly unlikely that another source of lyrics would be a
`
`character-for-character match—including punctuation, contractions, and line breaks—with lyrics
`
`appearing on Genius’s website, without having been copied from Genius’s website. This is
`
`especially true for certain music genres such as hip-hop, which often features songs with especially
`
`intricate lyrics.
`
`49.
`
`The lyrics Information Box on Google for the Desiigner song “Panda” was one of
`
`the first Information Boxes to cause Genius to suspect lyrics from its website were being
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`misappropriated.
`
`50.
`
`Specifically, the lyrics to “Panda” displayed in the Information Box on Google and
`
`observed by Genius on June 8, 2016 matched exactly, on a character-for-character basis, the lyrics
`
`to “Panda” featured on Genius’s website as of May 16, 2016 (the “May 2016 Genius Panda
`
`Lyrics”).
`
`51.
`
`This observation suggested to Genius that Google’s lyrics Information Box for
`
`“Panda” on June 8, 2016 featured lyrics misappropriated from Genius’s website.4
`
`52.
`
`Having observed an exact copy of lyrics from its website in Google’s lyrics
`
`Information Box, Genius sought to determine who might be responsible for the apparent
`
`misappropriation.
`
`53.
`
`As of June 8, 2016, Genius was aware of two companies engaged in the business
`
`of licensing lyrics for display on the web: LyricFind and Musixmatch.
`
`54.
`
`As of June 8, 2016, Genius was not aware of any lyrics data licensing arrangement
`
`between Google and LyricFind or Google and Musixmatch. Given, however, their prominence in
`
`the lyrics data licensing business, Genius sought to determine if LyricFind or Musixmatch was
`
`responsible for the misappropriation of the lyrics to “Panda” from Genius’s website for display in
`
`Google’s lyrics Information Box.
`
`55.
`
`On or about June 8, 2016, upon information and belief, the lyrics to “Panda”
`
`featured on the website metrolyrics.com were licensed for display from LyricFind, and the lyrics
`
`to “Panda” featured on the website azlyrics.com were licensed lyrics for display from Musixmatch.
`
`56.
`
`By observing the lyrics to “Panda” featured on metrolyrics.com and azlyrics.com
`
`on or about June 8, 2016, Genius could attempt to determine if LyricFind or Musixmatch had
`
`4 It is possible that Google started displaying the lyrics in question before June 8, 2016; however June 8, 2016 was
`the day Genius first recorded those lyrics in Google’s lyrics Information Box.
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`provided the May 2016 Genius Panda Lyrics to Google. If the lyrics to “Panda” from
`
`metrolyrics.com on or about June 8, 2016 matched the May 2016 Genius Panda Lyrics, that would
`
`suggest that LyricFind had misappropriated the lyrics to “Panda” from Genius’s website and was
`
`providing them to Google. If the lyrics to “Panda” from azlyrics.com on or about June 8, 2016
`
`matched the May 2016 Genius Panda Lyrics, that would suggest that Musixmatch had
`
`misappropriated the lyrics to “Panda” from Genius’s website and was providing them to Google.
`
`57.
`
`On or about June 8, 2016, upon information and belief, neither the lyrics to “Panda”
`
`featured on metrolyrics.com, nor the lyrics to “Panda” featured on azlyrics.com matched the May
`
`2016 Genius Panda Lyrics.
`
`58.
`
`Indeed, on or about June 8, 2016, upon information and belief, the only place on
`
`the internet that Genius could find an exact copy of the May 2016 Genius Panda Lyrics, was in
`
`Google’s lyrics Information Box. This fact suggested to Genius that Google was directly
`
`responsible for misappropriating lyrics from Genius’s website.5
`
`V.
`
`Google and LyricFind Are Caught “Red-Handed”
`
`59.
`
`Based on the observations of Google’s lyrics Information Boxes described above,
`
`in August 2016, Genius devised a digital watermark to embed in certain lyrics appearing on its
`
`site.
`
`60.
`
`This watermark (“Watermark #1”) involved replacing the apostrophes in a selection
`
`of newly released songs with a distinctive pattern of curly (’) and straight apostrophes (').6 Genius
`
`set the 2nd, 5th, 13th, 14th, 16th and 20th apostrophes of each watermarked song as curly
`
`5 Google has subsequently populated the lyrics Information Box for “Panda” with lyrics attributed to LyricFind.
`These lyrics contain a notable inaccuracy: Desiigner raps “Man I’m the macho like Randy,” a reference to the late
`WWE superstar Randy “Macho Man” Savage. As of December 2, 2019, Google’s lyrics Information Box for
`“Panda” renders this lyric incorrectly as “Man I’m the mocho like Randy.” As of June 8, 2016, when Google’s
`lyrics Information Box for “Panda” matched the May 2016 Genius Panda Lyrics, the lyrics Information Box
`included the correct line “Man I’m the macho like Randy.”
`6 The Unicode character code for the curly apostrophe is U+2019 and the Unicode character code for the straight
`apostrophe is U+0027.
`
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`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, as shown below. Genius designed Watermark #1 to be woven into the text of the
`
`lyrics of the watermarked songs so that, if the apostrophe pattern were to be found outside of
`
`Genius’s website, there would be no explanation other than that the lyrics were copied from
`
`Genius’s website, e.g., by using the copy/paste functionality or a computer program.
`
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`NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1
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`INDEX NO .
`526241/2019
`INDEX NO. 526241/2019
`RECE IVED NYSCEF:
`12/03/2019
`RECEIVED NYSCEF: 12/03/2019
`
`Lyrics on Genius.com
`
`Watermark #1
`
`Song: "Not Today"
`
`Watermark #1
`"REDHANDED"
`
`@W
`
`Curly
`Straight
`Apostrophe Apostrophe
`
`Apostmphe
`Number
`
`Apostrophe
`Type
`
`Morse Code
`
`Engiish
`
`‘1
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`o
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`1o
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`21
`22
`
`0 Straight
`
`V Curly
`
`0 Straight
`
`0 Straight
`
`V Curly
`
`0 Straight
`
`0 Straight
`
`0 Straight
`
`0 Straight
`
`0 Straight
`0 Straight
`
`O Straight
`
`V Curly
`
`V Curly
`
`0 Straight
`1 v Curly
`' 0 Straight
`
`0 Straight
`
`C) Straight
`
`‘ V Curly
`I 0 Straight
`I 0 Straight
`
`Dot
`
`Dash
`
`Dot
`
`Dot
`
`Dash
`
`Dot
`
`Dot
`
`Dot
`
`Dot
`
`Dot
`Dot
`
`Dot
`
`Dash
`
`Dash
`
`Dot
`Dash
`Dot
`
`Dot
`
`Dot
`
`Dash
`Dot
`Dot
`
`Ul'flUZI>
`
`Someday l wa®3e airaid 01' my head
`Soi'i'aeday [ will not be chained to my bed
`
`SomedaWiorget the Clay he left
`But surely not Today
`
`One clay l we®1eed a PhD
`To Sit me down and tell me what it all means
`
`Maybe one day®be a breeze. ah
`But Surely riot today. but surely not today
`
`One da®wearti1e pain will be a blip
`@haye the hardest t1me recalling it
`@be the king of misery management
`-=.-'
`--:.-I-
`if 1'-.'.'.
`ii --
`l
`'11,
`
`One (lav that Song wt®flal<e me cry anymore
`[Oh no no]
`
`One danet up off the bathroom floor (Hey,
`yeah)
`
`011. piece by piecevbe restored
`But surely not today. surely not
`
`Eh. not today
`
`
`
`
`
`*Screenshot from: November 25. 2019
`
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`RECEIVED NYSCEF: 12/03/2019
`
`61.
`
`Over the next several months, Genius informally monitored Google’s lyrics
`
`Information Boxes and sometimes encountered lyrics on Google that featured Watermark #1.
`
`62.
`
`In or about May 2017, Genius first put Google on notice about the appearance of
`
`Watermark #1 in its lyrics Information Boxes. In an email, Genius provided Google with an
`
`example of a song (Kendrick Lamar’s “PRIDE.”) that featured Watermark #1, explaining that the
`
`presence of the watermark irrefutably proved that Google was displaying lyrics copied from
`
`Genius’s website in its lyrics Information Boxes. Genius received a response saying “Give me a
`
`week on this to figure out what is going on on our side.”
`
`63.
`
`Genius followed up with multiple executives at Google and, while they would
`
`repeatedly indicate to Genius that they were looking into the issue, no explanation was ever given
`
`for the appearance of content in Google’s lyrics Information Boxes that unquestionably originated
`
`from Genius’s website.
`
`64.
`
`In or about October 2018, Genius designed an experiment to more systematically
`
`assess the incidence of lyrics misappropriated from Genius’s website in Google’s lyrics
`
`Information Boxes. Specifically, Genius embedded Watermark #1 in the lyrics for a random
`
`sample of new songs that appeared on Genius. In order to be included in the sample a song had to
`
`(1) have lyrics in English or Spanish, (2) feature a sufficient number of apostrophes to support
`
`Watermark #1, and (3) meet a popularity threshold. Genius randomly applied Watermark #1 to a
`
`percentage of new songs meeting the criteria for inclusion in the sample.
`
`65.
`
`Once a song became part of the watermarked sample set, Genius searched for its
`
`lyrics every day on Google, and recorded whether the lyrics Information Box was present. If the
`
`lyrics Information Box was present, Genius recorded whether the lyrics displayed by Google
`
`therein featured Watermark #1.
`
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`INDEX NO. 526241/2019
`
`RECEIVED NYSCEF: 12/03/2019
`
`66.
`
`From October 2018 through December 2018, a total of 301 songs were included in
`
`Genius’s Watermark #1 sample set. Of those 301 songs, Google provided lyrics Information
`
`Boxes for 271 (90%) of them. Of those 271 Information Boxes, 116 (43%) showed clear evidence
`
`of matching Watermark #1—the distinctive pattern of curly and straight apostrophes described
`
`above. An example of a lyrics Information Box featuring Watermark #1 observed by Genius
`
`during this period is shown below.
`
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`FILED: KINGS COUNTY CLERK 12/03/2019 10:25 AM
`FILED: KINGS COUNTY CLERK 12m2019 10:25 ‘
`|
`NYSCEF DOC. NO.
`1
`NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1
`
`INDEX NO .
`526241/2019
`INDEX NO. 526241/2019
`RECE IVED NYSCEF:
`12/03/2019
`RECEIVED NYSCEF: 12/03/2019
`
`Lyrics in Google's
`
`Information Box
`
`Watermark #1
`
`Song: “Not Today"
`
`by Alessia Cara
`
`Watermark #1
`"REDHANDED"
`
`6)?
`
`Curly
`Straight
`Apostrophe Apostrophe
`
`:-::
`
`GOOgIe
`
`alessia care not today lyrics
`
`ALL.
`
`fill-33." .:
`
`'€-:'
`
`'\.i
`
`:-l
`
`'.-'. "\.""~
`
`Not Today
`Song by Alessia Cara
`
`5
`
`
`
`OVERVIEW
`
`LYRICS
`
`PEOPLE ALSO SEARCH FOR
`
`'. e afraid of my head
`Someday I wr
`Someday 1 Will not be chained to my bed
`Somedayvforget the day he left
`But Surety not today
`One day | wo®1eed a PhD
`To Sit me down and tell me what it all means
`
`Maybe one day .be a breeze. ah
`But surety not today. but surety not today
`
`Oh, you dovknow what sadness means
`®I yo® too sad to fall asleep
`One da}
`be snoozmq peacefully
`But aure:y not today. surety not today
`
`One day®swear the pain will be a blip
`@‘naue the hardest time reoaiiing it
`® be the long of iriISer'y manager‘nent
`But aureéy not today
`One day that song wo®nake me cry anymore (Oh
`no noi
`
`One cianget up off the bathroom lloor (Hey. yeahl
`Oh. DISCO by pieoevbe restored
`But aureéy not today. surely not
`Eh. not today
`
`On. yeti do.<now what happy means
`It‘v only in your dreams
`@be acquainted with my jollihes
`Bot surety not today. yeah. surely not todayr
`
`Surely not—. surety, surely not—
`Surely not—. tairreiy not today
`
`One day the thought