US Appeals court: Google’s library book scanning project is not copyright

Google announced a $125 million settlement in 2008, which would have created a registry of online books and allowed USA consumers and institutions to purchase access to the material.

“We’re pleased the court has confirmed that the project is fair use, acting like a card catalogue for the digital age”, a Google spokesperson said. The ruling upheld U.S. Circuit Court Denny Chin’s decision to award Google summary judgement in the long-running case.

Today, the 2nd Circuit looks at two main aspects of “Google Print”: allowing users to search a book’s text and allowing users to view snippets.

The Authors Guild announced its intention to take this all the way to the Supreme Court.

Ever go to Google to read an excerpt of a book?

Google won a key appeals court ruling on a 2005 lawsuit filed by authors who object to the Internet giant making millions of books searchable online for free. Snippets show small sections containing search keywords in a copyrighted work. (2) Google’s provision of digitized copies to the libraries that supplied the books, on the understanding that the libraries will use the copies in a manner consistent with the copyright law, also does not constitute infringement. Snippet view was also deemed transformative as it added value to the search function’s new use-it tells researchers whether the book uses the term in a way that would induce her to obtain a copy of the book.

The case was originally put forth by a group of authors who sued Google back in 2005.

Fair use it is!

“Many of the most universally accepted forms of fair use”, continued the ruling, “such as news reporting and commentary, quotation in historical or analytic books, reviews of books, and performances, as well as parody, are all normally done commercially for profit”. They appeal from the grant of summary judgment in Google’s favor.

Google responded to author complaints by saying that the ability to search books would not harm authors but help them, by aiding readers in finding and choosing to buy volumes they might not have otherwise.