Beginning in May 2001, Perfect 10 (P10) began sending notices to Google informing it of specific links to infringers in its general Web search and requesting their removal. In May 2004, it began sending similar notices for Google's comparatively new image search (first offered in 2003). Google states that it complied with the notices where it could find the infringement and determine that it was in fact an infringement, removing them from Google Search. However, it noted that it was unable to do this in many cases due to deficiencies in the requests.
On November 19, 2004, P10 filed suit against Google asserting various copyright and trademark infringement claims, including direct, contributory, and vicarious copyright infringement claims. After settlement discussions lasting several months, P10 filed for a preliminary injunction for Google to cease linking to and distributing its images.
Later, in February 2006, District Judge A. Howard Matz ruled that "P10 is likely to succeed in proving that Google directly infringes by creating and displaying thumbnail copies of its photographs.
P10's claims of direct infringement were twofold. First, it argued that Google's framing of infringing websites constituted direct infringement by Google itself, and requested that Google be enjoined from so framing websites infringing its content; second, it argued that Google's creation and distribution of thumbnails was direct infringement, and requested that Google be enjoined from creating and distributing thumbnails of its images. 
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