On Thursday, U.S. Circuit Court Judge Denny Chin handed down a decision in one of the longest-running copyright cases in recent memory: namely, the lawsuit launched by the Authors’ Guild against Google (s goog), claiming that its book-scanning project amounted to a massive case of copyright infringement. Chin, however, ruled that the project is protected under the “fair use” principle, since there are clear public benefits to the indexing of millions of books.

Over the past few years (the case was originally launched in 2005) the Authors Guild has won support for its case from Google critics who believe that the web giant has amassed too much power — the same critics who have pushed for repeated antitrust investigations of the company’s quasi-monopoly in the search and internet-advertising markets, among other things.

But regardless of whether you believe Google is too big for its britches, and is trying to…

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Google wins book-scanning case: judge finds “fair use,” cites many benefits

15 November 2013 by particularkev

Gigaom

Google(s goog) has won a resounding victory in its eight-year copyright battle with the Authors Guild over the search giant’s controversial decision to scan more than 20 million books from libraries and make them available on the internet.

In a ruling (embedded below) issued Thursday morning in New York, US Circuit Judge Denny Chin said the book scanning amounted to fair use because it was “highly transformative” and because it didn’t harm the market for the original work.

“Google Books provides significant public benefits,” Chin wrote, describing it as “an essential research tool” and noting that the scanning service has expanded literary access for the blind and helped preserve the text of old books from physical decay.

Chin also rejected the theory that Google was depriving authors of income, noting that the company does not sell the scans or make whole copies of books available. He concluded, instead, that Google…

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Google Books Lawsuit Dismissed

15 November 2013 by particularkev

The long drawn out lawsuit against Google Books appears to be over, with the case dismissed. I personally think it is a good result for all concerned. The link below is to an article reporting on the case.

For more visit:
http://www.teleread.com/google-book-settlement/judge-dismisses-authors-case-against-google-books/

Article: More on the Google Books Case

25 September 2013 by particularkev

The link below is to an interesting article on the Google Books lawsuit.

For more visit:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/copyright/article/59222-after-quick-hearing-google-books-case-appears-ready-to-be-decided.html

Don’t wait for Congress to fix fair use, says judge in Google Books case

24 September 2013 by particularkev

Google and Authors Guild return to court for fair use showdown

24 September 2013 by particularkev

Google calls book scanning “transformative” in latest push for fair use ruling

28 August 2013 by particularkev

Gigaom

Google(s goog) and the Authors Guild’s eight-year legal fight over digital books is coming to a head once again, as both sides prepare to make their final case next month about whether Google’s scanning of more than 20 million library books is fair use under copyright law.

In documents filed in New York federal court this week, Google argues at length that the scanning is “transformative” — a legal concept that gained importance after the Supreme Court used it in 1994 to rule in favor of rappers 2LiveCrew, who had sampled the Roy Orbison song “Pretty Woman” without permission. Google argues:

“Google has copied no more than is necessary to achieve its transformative purpose and give rise to the social benefits of full-text search…Google improved on existing indices so substantially that its use was transformative.”

The “transformative” factor is not an automatic shield against copyright infringement. Instead, the term is just…

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