Internet giant, Google will penalize sites that post copyrighted material without crediting them. This comes as relief to the media companies that were complaining against such practises in the search engine.
"We will begin taking into account a new signal in our rankings: the number of valid copyright removal notices we receive for any given site. Sites with high numbers of removal notices may appear lower in our results," said Amit Singhal, Google search executive in the company's blog.
Google's Web "search algorithm" will take into account the number of copyright removal notices Google gets for a particular site. The search algorithm decides on how the sites are ranked in the results.
Google is entering the field of media via its YouTube site, Google Play, and Google TV service (in Kansas City) as a seller and distributor of video and music. This move will help Google, which has cut deals with cable channel networks. Apple and Amazon will also join the media frenzy.
Google has a bad track record of helping online piracy. This has worried many media companies and content creators who feel their online content has been devalued. Google is also facing legal suits from Viacom and book publishers and authors.
The Recording Industry Association of America hailed the move as a "potentially significant development."
"(It) is an important step in the right direction-a step we've been urging Google to take for a long time-and we commend the company for its action. Google has signalled a new willingness to value the rights of creators," said Cary Sherman, CEO RIAA in a statement.
While the Motion Picture Association of America said they "will be watching this development closely."
Google had said earlier that it will be taking down any down unauthorized copyrighted media within 24 hours of receiving a complaint from the copyright holder. It also said it will restrict such violators from participating in Google advertising network.
The top senders of copyright notices are RIAA member companies and NBC Universal said Google. It said that it was every week receiving a million plus copyright notices to its engine.