Google Book Scanning is Fair Use

On November 14th US Circuit Court Judge Denny Chin decided in favor of Google (The Authors Guild et al. vs Google Inc. 2013)  The decision stated that Google’s book scanning project does not violate the terms of “fair use”. Google met all four legal factors for a successful fair use defense to copyright infringement, Chin wrote.

“In my view, Google Books provides significant public benefits. 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. It has become an invaluable research tool that permits students, teachers,librarians, and others to more efficiently identify and locate books. It has given scholars the ability, for the first time, to conduct full-text searches of tens of millions of books. It preserves books, in particular out-of-print and old books that have been forgotten in the bowels of libraries, and it gives them new life. It facilitates access to books for print-disabled and remote or underserved populations. It generates new audiences and creates new sources of income for authors and publishers. Indeed, all society benefits.”