Photographer Asks Justices to Ax Embed-Protecting Server Test

A photographer is asking the US Supreme Court to strike a critical Ninth Circuit copyright precedent shielding the embedded display of copyrighted material from infringement claims.

Elliot McGucken told the justices the “server test,” which holds an internet site can’t infringe by embedding content hosted elsewhere because it never copied the material, conflicts with copyright law and high court precedent. The16-year-old test—which involved low-resolution Google Image thumbnails—has been rejected by “every court outside the Ninth Circuit,” McGucken said in his petition for review docketed April 1.

McGucken is challenging a test he says offers “blanket immunity” for violating copyright owners’ ...