The Legal Infrastructure of Business: Google Settles Book-Scanning ...

Google and the Association of American Publishers (AAP) announced on Thursday that they have reached a settlement over a 7-year long battle over digital book rights. ?

Background

In 2005, the AAP filed a suit against Google alleging that Google had violated copyright laws by illegally scanning books without their consent. Through the Google Library Project, Google has digitized approximately 15 million rare and out-of-print books in an effort to provide the world easier access to knowledge. ?The dispute centered around the question of whether Google violated copyright laws by not asking for permission from publishers before scanning and making these books readable online.? The publishers said that they should have been compensated and given control over whether these books are posted.? In its defense, Google contended that they were doing this for the public good. ?

Under the settlement, the publishers will be able to decide whether the previously scanned works will be kept available to the public. ?If they choose to allow Google to keep the matierial, they will be provided with a digital copy for their personal use. ?If they elect not to keep the material on Google, the content will be removed. ? Going forward, publishers will negotiate directly with Google over additional material. ?

The legal issues at hand in the case are copyright infringement and whether what Google was doing was covered under the "fair use" doctrine. ?With Thursday's settlement, it seems that neither issue has been resolved. ?The Authors' Guild is separately seeking damages for the material that Google has copied without their permission. ?Hopefully, the case will see it's day in court so that future grey areas can be cleared up.

What now?

This leads me to question what the American Association of Publishers? motives were for agreeing to a settlement? ?Did they realize that times have changed and that they are no longer missing out on much revenue? ?Why don't authors see this the same way? ?Does this mean that the Authors' Guild suit will also be settled out of court? ?

Most importantly, do you think that Google has a valid defense? ?Clearly, the fact that they are choosing to settle with the AAP indicates that they are uncertain of the outcome. ?Does Google have the right to scan copyrighted works?before obtaining consent from the copyright holders to then go on to profit from the sale of such content? ?Also, does scanning a snippet of a book for the purpose of enticing a sale fall under "fair use"? ?From what I can gather about the "fair use doctrine", it can be used as a defense to a copyright infringement claim when the use of copyrighted material is for the benefit of the public. ?

Google claims that the Library Project is for the public good but, since it?s inception, has proceeded to make full books available for purchase through its own network, Google Play.? Much as the Court looked at the intent of Grokster in MGM v. Grokster, would the court look to Google's marketing of this service to determine whether Google's use of the material was for the public good or merely for profit?? I think it would be the latter.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-google-books-20121005,0,6260341.story

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/copyright/article/54247-publishers-opt-out-of-the-google-settlement.html

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/

Source: http://picker.typepad.com/legalinfrastructure/2012/10/google-settles-book-scanning-dispute.html

blake griffin dunk florida primary full force odd fellows eli whitney blake griffin dunk on kendrick perkins kendrick perkins