I'm not sure about that. A low-res photo to illustrate a dead person seems like a good example of fair use: displaying a thumbnail in a search engine has alread

I'm not sure about that. A low-res photo to illustrate a dead person seems like a good example of fair use: displaying a thumbnail in a search engine has already been ruled transformative by US courts; a low-res image does not significantly affect the original's market value; and since the person is dead (in Google's opinion), obtaining a photo under other licensing terms may well be impossible. So Google could decide to challenge the DMCA takedown.