Google Book-Scanning Project Legal, Says US Appeals Court

A US appeals court ruled on Friday that Google's massive effort to scan millions of books for an online library does not violate copyright law, rejecting claims from a group of authors that the project illegally deprives them of revenue.

The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York rejected infringement claims from the Authors Guild and several individual writers, and found that the project provides a public service without violating intellectual property law.

The authors sued Google, whose parent company is now named Alphabet Inc , in 2005, a year after the project was launched.

But Google argued that the effort would actually boost book sales by making it easier for readers to find works, while introducing them to books they might not otherwise have seen.

A lawyer for the authors did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


http://gadgets.ndtv.com/internet/ne...ng-project-legal-says-us-appeals-court-753633

 

I agree, I think by Google posting the books it'll boost the sales of books by making it easier for readers to find work while introducing them to books they might not otherwise have seen. It's exciting that with technology we now can do something as crazy as having all of the books we could imagine just under our fingertips.

 

Intellectual property law huh? That is a tough one. If that it the case then the notion that it might increase sales is completely irrelevant, and if you are on the side of the authors you might take offense to that. I am not sure what to think about this one. It is an interesting case to think about, though, in terms of the legal aspects of big business.

 

I don't see how scanning million of books for online availability boosts the sales for authors, unless Google gave a short sample and people have to buy the rest of the book if they want to read it. If they are available to read for free, then yes, the authors have the rights to be upset.

It is interesting though, and it reminds me of the music industry battle a while back about the same thing. It will be a long struggle when it comes to the legal aspect.