Web Crawler Breached Contract by Indexing Website in Violation of Terms, Robot Directive

• Case Summary:
  Search engine operator is found to have breached contract by indexing website in violation of terms of use and robots.txt directive.
• Key Takeaway:
  Canadian court ascribes legal significance to non-compliance with Robot Exclusion Standard.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia—A B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled Sept. 2 that a Canadian company, Zoocasa, owned by communications giant Rogers Inc., breached a real estate company website’s terms and conditions by indexing it with a robot searcher (Century 21 Canada Limited Partnership v. Rogers Communications Inc.).

Justice Robert Punnett granted the plaintiff a permanent injunction barring Zoocasa from accessing company websites in ...