Summary Judgment Granted in Google Books Copyright Infringement Case

On November 14, 2013, Google obtained a summary judgment of fair use in a class action copyright infringement case arising from Google Books. The case, which was pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, began in 2005 when multiple copyright holders alleged Google infringed their copyrights by scanning books without their permission through its Google Books project. Google first announced the Google Books project in 2004. The project involved two book programs – the Partner Program and the Library Project. The Library Project evolved over time to include the scanning of books in the collections of various public and university libraries. Google has scanned more than 20 million books, in their entirety, through the Library Project, including novels, biographies, children's books, reference works, and textbooks. Google did not seek or obtain permission from the copyright holders to digitally copy or display verbatim expression from the books. Users of Google's search engine may conduct searches, which return a list of books in which the search term appears. Google also displays snippets of text from the scanned books.

In granting summary judgment of fair use, Judge Chin applied the four fair use factors from the Copyright Act. In light of the four statutory factors, Judge Chin determined Google Books "advances the progress of the arts and sciences, while maintaining respectful consideration for the rights of authors and other creative individuals, without adversely impacting the rights of copyright holders…." Google's fight may not be over, as the plaintiffs have expressed a desire to appeal to the Second Circuit.

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