COPYCENSE

“On September 20, 2005, the Authors Guild and several individual authors filed a complaint in federal district court in New York alleging that Google is engaging in ‘massive copyright infringement’ through the Google Print Library Project. This culminated months of publisher condemnation of the initiative, which involves scanning the collections of five major research libraries and making the full text of the books searchable on Google.

“Despite the allegations of infringement, libraries, users, and some authors have welcomed the Project, insisting that it will actually stimulate demand for books by helping readers identify books that contain the information they seek. Publishers and authors should carefully study precisely what Google intends to do and understand the relevant copyright issues before supporting the Authors Guild’s lawsuit.”

Jonathan Band. The Authors Guild v. The Google Print Library Project. LLRX.com. Oct. 15, 2005.

See also:

United States District Court, Southern District of New York. Authors Guild, et al. vs. Google, Inc. (Complaint) (.pdf, 104 KB). Sept. 20, 2005.

Jonathan Band. The Google Print Library Project: A Copyright Analysis. (.pdf, 132 KB) August 2005.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.