Google’s massive effort to scan millions of books for its digital library does not violate copyright law, a U.S. appeals court ruled today.
The judge rejected the claims of a group of authors that the effort hurts their income from book sales. The judge upheld the original ruling that Google’s project is protected by fair use. Here is an excerpt from the judgement:
The district court granted 8 summary judgment based on its conclusion that Google’s copying is fair use under 17 U.S.C. § 107 and is therefore not infringing. The Court of Appeals concludes that the defendant’s copying 10 is transformative within the meaning of Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569, 578-585 (1994), does not offer the public a meaningful substitute for matter protected by the plaintiffs’ copyrights, and satisfies § 107’s test for fair use. AFFIRMED.