A U.S. court has ended an 8-year long running case between Google and Authors Guild by ruling in favor of Google. This means the scanning and offering snippets of a book through Google Books does not violate the U.S. copyright law.
Google may have had several run-ins with the law enforcement, which resulted in paying huge fines for its Street View data collection, but this time the web giant has not violated the U.S. copyright law. The case between the web giant and the U.S. Authors Guild has been concluded in Google's favor, which means the scanning and adding excerpts of 20 million books online was "fair use," as Google appealed initially. In addition, the project offers "significant public benefits," the case ruling reads.
U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin dismissed the lawsuit Thursday, filed by a group of authors and publishers in 2005. The Guild sued Google alleging that its plans to create a new web service called Google Books violated the U.S. copyright law. For the service, Google scanned more than 20 million library books without seeking approval from the rights holders. But Google Books only offers digital text search and excerpts of books, which may help its users to decide better on purchasing a book in the future.
"It 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," Judge Chin wrote in his ruling, according to N.Y. Times. "Indeed, all society benefits."
While Google is "delighted" with the court's ruling, the Authors Guild plans to appeal the court's decision by escalating to a high court.
"We disagree with and are disappointed by the court's decision today. This case presents a fundamental challenge to copyright that merits review by a higher court," reads a statement sent toGigaOm. "Google 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 far exceeds the bounds of the fair use defense."
In March 2011, a $125 million settlement agreement was declined by the U.S. court, which said it gave Google a "de facto monopoly" to copy books. According to Judge Chin's ruling, Google Books will boost book sales and in turn benefit the publishers and copyright holders.
