This month, we discuss Authors Guild v. Google,1 in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decided whether Google’s Library project and Google Books, through which Google creates unauthorized digital copies of books, as well as a search functionality and the display of “snippets” from those books, constitute copyright infringement.
In an opinion by Judge Pierre N. Leval, joined by Judges José A. Cabranes and Barrington D. Parker, the court affirmed the district court’s opinion, holding that Google’s actions constitute fair use under the Copyright Act and the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music.2 The Second Circuit explicitly found that Google’s purpose in copying is highly transformative, that Google provides a limited public display of text, that its copying does not constitute a significant market substitute for the protected aspects of the original works, and that Google’s profit motivations do not justify denial of fair use. The court further held that Google’s provision of digitized copies to participating libraries, by way of contracts requiring libraries’ compliance with copyright law, also does not constitute infringement.
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