Google has filed a lawsuit against SerpApi, a company that provides tools designed to scrape information from websites, including Google Search results.
According to Google, SerpApi has been illegally accessing and collecting its search data on a massive scale and then selling that information to customers.
In the lawsuit, Google claims that SerpApi violated copyright laws by using deceptive methods to bypass protections that prevent automated systems from scraping search results. Google describes the activity as taking place at an “astonishing scale,” involving hundreds of millions of automated requests.
SerpApi has marketed its services as a way to deliver Google search results for developers, including those building AI-powered tools. However, Google argues that this data was obtained unlawfully and without permission.
The lawsuit also references a separate legal case filed by Reddit in October, where Reddit accused SerpApi and two other scraping companies of stealing content from its platform. Reddit claimed that at least one of the companies was supplying scraped data to the AI startup Perplexity. While Google’s complaint mentions Reddit’s case, it does not directly accuse SerpApi of working with Perplexity or other AI bots.
Google says it introduced a system called SearchGuard earlier this year to block SerpApi from accessing its search pages. According to the lawsuit, SearchGuard initially succeeded in stopping the scraping when it launched in January 2025. However, Google claims SerpApi quickly found ways to get around the system.
The company alleges that SerpApi disguised its automated traffic to make it look like it was coming from real human users. Google says this was done by creating fake browsers and using large numbers of IP addresses to avoid detection. Google argues that each attempt to bypass SearchGuard violates federal law.
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Google also claims that its search results contain a significant amount of copyrighted material, including licensed images and content displayed in features like the Knowledge Panel. By scraping and reselling this data, Google says SerpApi undermines its licensing agreements and avoids paying the costs required to legally display copyrighted material.
