Last July, Microsoft France filed a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown notice to Google, requesting that the search engine removed pages that were infringing on its products. Unfortunately, there appears to have been an error in whatever system Microsoft uses to detect infringement, as the notice points to a number of seemingly innocent sites. Pages from BBC News, TechCrunch, BuzzFeed, Wikipedia, AMC Theatres, and the US government's Department of Health and Human services (HSS) were all listed as infringing Microsoft's "Windows 8 Beta."

While the complaint is clearly an amusing mistake that can be put down to bad software or human error, the consequences of Microsoft's actions aren't so funny. Although the pages from BBC News, Wikipedia, HSS, and TechCrunch are still able to be found through Google search, pages from legitimate sources like Real Clear Politics and AMC Theatres aren't so lucky. TorrentFreak theorizes that Google keeps a log of white-listed sites such as BBC News and ignores takedown notices, but that will come as little consolation to the sites affected by misplaced DMCA takedowns.