GOOGLE BOOKS WON SCANNING LAWSUIT AND HAS SCANNED ABOUT 36 MILLION OF 130 MILLION BOOKS

December 29, 2013

In November, 2013, Google won dismissal of a long-running lawsuit by authors who accused the Internet search company of digitally copying millions of books for an online library without permission.

U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin in Manhattan accepted Google's argument that its scanning of more than 20 million books, and making "snippets" of text available online, constituted "fair use" under U.S. copyright law.

The decision, if it survives an expected appeal, would let Google continue expanding the library, which it said helps readers find books they might not otherwise locate.

It is also turning point for litigation that began in 2005, when authors and publishers sued. Google has estimated it could owe more than $3 billion if the Authors Guild, an advocacy group that demanded $750 for each scanned book, prevailed.

Google Books had scanned 30 million of the nearly 130 million unique books that have ever been published as of April 2013. Google now likely has scanned about 36 million books.

The Digital Public Library of America, launched on April 18, 2013, is a project to make the holdings of America’s research libraries, archives, and museums available to all Americans—and eventually to everyone in the world—online and free of charge.

The DPLA offers a single point of access to millions of items—photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images, and more—from libraries, archives, and museums around the United States. Users can browse and search the DPLA’s collections by timeline, map, format, and topic; save items to customized lists; and share their lists with others. Users can also explore digital exhibitions curated by the DPLA’s content partners and staff.

http://nextbigfuture.com/2013/12/google-books-won-scanning-lawsuit-and.html