Today, Judge Chin granted summary judgment in favor of Google in an action brought by the Authors Guild and certain individual authors alleging that Google’s digitization of more than 20 million books owned by certain research and university libraries which are then provided to the contributing libraries in their entirety, and made available – in snippets – via Google Books, is violative of the Copyright Act.
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Judge Chin
Judge Baer: Google’s Mass Digitization of Copyrighted Works is Fair Use
This evening, Judge Baer dismissed one of three actions alleging that Google’s mass digitization of written works owned by certain Universities – which are then contributed to the HathiTrust Digital Library and made available – in snippets – via Google Books, is violative of the Copyright Act. Judge Baer concluded that the Mass Digitization Project and the HathiTrust Digital Library are protected under fair use, and granted defendants’ motions for summary judgment. Judge Baer observed that the project’s full-text search capability “allows scholars to identify relevant works far more efficiently. In addition, the program helps Defendants preserve their collections in the face of normal deterioration during circulation, natural disasters, or other catastrophes that decimate library collections, as well as loss due to theft or misplacement.” He concluded “I cannot imagine a definition of fair use that. . . would require that I terminate this invaluable contribution to the progress of science and cultivation of the arts . . . .”
Continue Reading Judge Baer: Google’s Mass Digitization of Copyrighted Works is Fair Use