Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) recently scored a legal victory in a book lawsuit and their win will allow Google to continue scanning books on their website. A federal judge in New York dismissed the class-action lawsuit from The Authors Guild, which initially started the lawsuit in 2005.
Google scanned over 20 million books
The Authors Guild claimed that Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) violated fair use of copyrighted books by providing snippets of the books. The guild was seeking $750 for each copyrighted book that was made digital which would cost Google a lot considering the search giant scanned over 20 million books.
A law professor from the University of Notre Dame said, “This is a huge victory for Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), which had previously tried to resolve legal issues regarding Google Books by class-action settlement.”
He wasn’t the only legal professional to share his two sense on the case.
Circuit Judge Denny Chin added that Google’s book scanning project isn’t a bad thing. He explained, “”Google’s use of copyrighted works is highly transformative. Words in books are being used in a way they have not been used before.”
Google is pleased with the ruling
Although the Authors Guild has yet to share a statement on their behalf, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is pleased with the ruling. The search giant said in a statement, “This has been a long road, and we are absolutely delighted with today’s judgement. As we have long said, Google Books is in compliance with copyright law and acts like a card catalog for the digital age, giving users the ability to find books to buy or borrow.”
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s library offers a portal of information that’s useful to everyone who is looking for valuable information. And it’s really not much different than going to a library or book store to do your research. Google’s library does make it easy to purchase eBooks online and that’s a great thing for publishers.