Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google Inc.
954 F. Supp. 2d 282, 41 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2746, 108 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1674 (2013)
Premium Feature
Subscribe to Lexplug to listen to the Case Podcast.
Rule of Law:
Making digital copies of entire copyrighted books for the purpose of creating a searchable text database and displaying short excerpts ('snippets') in response to user queries is a transformative fair use that does not constitute copyright infringement.
Facts:
- In 2004, Google Inc. launched its Library Project, partnering with several major research libraries to digitally scan books in their collections.
- Google scanned more than twenty million books in their entirety, including many works that were still under copyright protection.
- The plaintiffs, The Authors Guild and several individual authors, own the copyrights to books that Google scanned without their permission or compensation.
- Google used the scans to create a comprehensive, full-text searchable digital index.
- When a user performs a search, Google Books displays small excerpts of text, known as 'snippets,' containing the user's search term, but does not make the full text of the book available to read.
- Google implemented security measures to prevent users from systematically viewing and reconstructing a substantial portion of any single book through repeated searches.
- Google also provided participating libraries with a digital copy of each book scanned from that library's collection.
- The project's stated benefits included facilitating research, enabling data and text mining, expanding access to books for underserved populations, and preserving older, out-of-print books.
Procedural Posture:
- The Authors Guild and several individual authors filed a class-action lawsuit against Google Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 2005, alleging copyright infringement.
- The parties negotiated a proposed settlement, which the district court rejected in 2011 as not being 'fair, adequate, and reasonable.'
- In 2012, the district court granted the plaintiffs' motion for class certification, allowing them to proceed as a class.
- Google filed an interlocutory appeal of the class certification order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
- In 2013, the Second Circuit vacated the district court's class certification decision, remanding the case with instructions for the district court to first rule on Google's fair use defense.
- On remand, both parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment in the district court on the issue of fair use.
Premium Content
Subscribe to Lexplug to view the complete brief
You're viewing a preview with Rule of Law, Facts, and Procedural Posture
Issue:
Does Google's practice of digitally scanning entire copyrighted books from library collections, creating a searchable database, and displaying snippets of text in search results, all without the copyright holders' permission, constitute a fair use under the Copyright Act?
Opinions:
Majority - Chin, Circuit Judge
Yes, Google's digitization and snippet display is a protected fair use. The court analyzed Google's actions under the four statutory factors of fair use. For the first factor, purpose and character of the use, the court found Google's use to be 'highly transformative.' Google did not merely reproduce the books for reading; it transformed their expressive text into a searchable word index and a tool for data mining, creating new information and research capabilities. This transformative purpose outweighed the commercial nature of Google's enterprise. For the second factor, the nature of the copyrighted work, the court noted that the vast majority of books were non-fiction and all were published, which favors a finding of fair use, although this factor was not determinative. Regarding the third factor, the amount and substantiality of the portion used, the court acknowledged that Google copied the entire work. However, it reasoned that copying the full text was essential for the transformative purpose of creating a comprehensive search index, and since only small, non-substantial snippets were displayed to the public, this factor only weighed slightly against fair use. For the fourth factor, the effect on the potential market, the court found no negative impact. To the contrary, it concluded that Google Books enhances the market for the original works by helping readers discover and purchase books, serving as a promotional tool rather than a market substitute. Weighing all the factors together, the court concluded that Google Books provides significant public benefits that advance the constitutional purpose of copyright—to promote the progress of science and the arts—without harming the rights of copyright holders.
Analysis:
This landmark decision solidifies the importance of 'transformative use' in fair use analysis, particularly in the context of digital technologies. The ruling establishes that even the verbatim, complete copying of millions of copyrighted works can be considered fair use if the purpose is to create a new, transformative tool that serves a different function from the original. This precedent provides significant legal protection for large-scale digitization projects and search engines, legitimizing their role in indexing and making information discoverable. The case significantly shapes the boundaries of copyright law in the digital age, prioritizing the public benefit of new technologies that create new knowledge over the copyright holder's absolute control when the new use does not supplant the market for the original work.
Unlock the full brief for Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google Inc.