by Rita Baladad
Quick Summary
The Association of Research Libraries released a briefing about the Google Books ruling:
The Association of Research Libraries released a briefing about the Google Books ruling:
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit unanimously ruled on Friday, October 16, 2015, in Authors Guild v. Google—also known as the “Google Books” case—that Google’s mass scanning and digital indexing of books for use in creating a searchable online library constituted a legal “fair use” of copyrighted material rather than an infringement.
Starting in 2004, Google, through its Library Project, made digital copies of tens of millions of books submitted to the project by libraries. Google then included these copies in a search index that displays “snippets” of the books in response to search queries. The Authors Guild and several authors sued Google in 2005, asserting that the project infringed their copyright. Google filed for summary judgment, arguing that its use was a fair use and, in 2013, the district court ruled in favor of Google. The plaintiffs appealed and the Second Circuit held on Friday that the copying of the books and the display of snippets is transformative and a fair use. Furthermore, Google’s provision of digital copies to its partner libraries that submitted the particular works is not an infringement.
Read the entire briefing and see links for further reference.
