Detail map of Brooklyn, New York, United States,Mountain View, California, United States

A: Brooklyn, New York, United States, B: Mountain View, California, United States

Judge Rules that Google Books Does Not Infringe Copyright

11/14/2013

On November 14, 2013 Judge Denny Chin of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in the class-auction suit of The Author's Guild, Inc...v. Google, Inc. (case 1.05-cv-08136 Document 1088) that Google Book Search does not infringe copyright.

Judge Chin wrote that Google Book Search "advances the progress of the arts and sciences, while maintaining respectful consideration for the rights of authors and other creative individuals, and without adversely impacting the rights of copyright holders.Indeed, all society benefits.”

" 'Google’s book search is transformative, he wrote, because 'words in books are being used in a way they have not been used before.' It does not replace books, he wrote, because Google does not allow people to read entire books online. It takes security measures, like not showing one out of every 10 pages in each book, to prevent people from trying to do so' "(http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/15/business/media/judge-sides-with-google-on-book-scanning-suit.html?hpw&rref=technology,accessed 11-15-2014).

Google was, of course, very pleased with the outcome; The Authors Guild diagreed with the judgment.

"Google said, 'As we have long said, Google Books is in compliance with copyright law and acts like a card catalogue for the digital age, giving users the ability to find books to buy or borrow.'

"The Authors Guild, which represents writers, said it would appeal the decision. 'We disagree with and are disappointed by the court's decision today,' Guild Executive Director Paul Aiken said in a written statement, 'Goodle made unauthorized digital editions of nearly all of the world's valuable copyright protected literature and profits from displaying those works. In our view, such mass digitization and exploitation for exceeds the bounds of the fair-use defense.'

"Google which sells ads arounds it search results have scanned more than 20 million books since 2004...." (Gershman & Trachtenberg, "Google Books Challenge is Rejected," Wall Street Journal, November 1, 2013). 

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