Google Sues SerpApi Over Data Scraping; Startup Seeks Dismissal

Editor's Note: Article updated February 23, 2026.

Key Takeaways

Google filed suit against SerpApi in Dec of 2025.
SerpApi is accused of bypassing security and reselling content.
SerpApi filed a motion to dismiss the case in February of 2026.

Google's lawsuit against scraping company SerpApi marks the latest escalation in the tech industry's intensifying battle over unauthorized data extraction and AI training content.

Google filed the lawsuit on Dec. 19th, 2025, alleging SerpApi circumvented security measures to extract copyrighted content from Google search results. According to Google, the legal action aims to stop SerpApi's bots and scraping activities that it claims violate the choices of websites and rightsholders about who should access their content.

Google alleges SerpApi uses cloaking, large bot networks and fake crawler names to bypass security protections. The company asserts this unlawful activity "has increased dramatically over the past year."

Google claims SerpApi takes content that Google licenses from others, such as images in Knowledge Panels and real-time data in Search features, and resells it for a fee. The lawsuit follows similar legal actions by other websites against SerpApi and scraping companies.

The Scraping Wars
SerpApi's Alleged Scraping Methods
Damages and Relief Requested by Google
SerpApi Files Motion to Dismiss

The Scraping Wars

AI companies' hunger for training data has triggered an escalating battle over unauthorized web scraping, content licensing and digital rights.

The scale of unauthorized scraping has risen drastically, with the bandwidth for multimedia downloads jumping 50% since January 2024, according to the Wikimedia Foundation. Automated programs scraping image catalogues for AI models — not human visitors — drove the surge.

Traditional defenses have proven inadequate. Websites historically relied on robots.txt files to limit bot access, but many AI crawlers now ignore them. "Not all crawlers respect robots.txt," said Shayne Longpre, AI researcher and Data Provenance Initiative lead. "They don't have a legal obligation to do so."

Some bots actively obscure their identity to evade restrictions. Perplexity, for instance, was found using stealth crawlers to bypass no-crawl directives.

Legal action has targeted unauthorized data extraction. Reddit sued Anthropic for scraping data to train large language models despite robots.txt blocks. Reddit argued Anthropic breached its terms of service and threatened the platform's data monetization plans.

SerpApi's Alleged Scraping Methods

Google's General Counsel, Halimah DeLaine Prado, alleged that SerpApi utilized the below methods — described as "shady back doors" — to violate Google's security measures and gain access to copyright protected materials.

Capability	Description
Cloaking	Disguising crawler identity to evade detection systems
Bot networks	Deploying large-scale automated programs to extract content
Fake crawler names	Using constantly changing identifiers to avoid blocking
Content resale	Extracting licensed content and selling it for a fee

Damages and Relief Requested by Google

In its "prayer for relief," Google asked the Court for the following remedies:

Injunctive Relief

An order barring SerpApi (and related parties) from:

Circumventing Google’s technological protections AND
Manufacturing, offering, selling or trafficking in tools designed to bypass Google’s security measures

Destruction of Violating Technology

An order compelling SerpApi to destroy any technology or devices involved in violations of the DMCA.

Statutory Damages OR Actual Damages Plus Profits

Google may elect one of two options:

Statutory damages under the DMCA of not less than $200 and up to $2,500 per violation for each act of circumvention or trafficking, OR
Actual damages and non-duplicative profits SerpApi earned from its unlawful conduct.

Additional Relief

Google also seeks:

Attorneys’ fees and costs under 17 U.S.C. § 1203
Prejudgment and post-judgment interest
Any further relief the Court deems appropriate

SerpApi Files Motion to Dismiss

"Google thinks it owns the internet... The problem is, no one owns the internet."

- Julien Khaleghy

CEO, SerpApi

On February 20, 2026, SerpApi filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming:

Google built its empire on scraping — and claiming that the practice is now illegal is hypocritical
The DMCA is not a website protection statute, it's a copyright protection statute, and Google is a website operator, not a copyright holder
Google admits that its anti-bot technologies exist to protect Google's ad revenue, not copyrighted content
If SerpApi's actions are prohibited under the DMCA, Google's actions are also prohibited under the DMCA
Google is attempting to steal rights that belong to others to protect its own information monopoly
Google has not pointed to any injury that a lawsuit could address
Precedent is against Google (i.e., hiQ Labs, Inc. v. LinkedIn Corp., Impression Products, Inc. v. Lexmark International)

"Google thinks it owns the internet," wrote Julien Khaleghy, CEO of SerpApi. "That's the subtext of its lawsuit against SerpApi, the quiet part that it's suddenly decided to shout out loud. The problem is, no one owns the internet. And the law makes that clear."

This move to dismiss the lawsuit is just one step in what might be a long and costly legal process, Khaleghy explained. However, he added, they're confident in their position. "We are not asking courts to break new ground. The law is already on our side."

Learning Opportunities

Webinar

Apr

The State of Enterprise Site Search: Moving Beyond "Good Enough"

Join CMSWire and SearchStax for a conversation about how enterprise IT and marketing leaders are moving beyond basic site search.

Webinar

On demand

Content Leaders Collective: Navigating Content Decisions at Scale

Discover how content leaders are modernizing content operations, avoiding costly missteps and preparing for scale and AI.

Watch Now

Webinar