The Authors Guild v. The Google Print Library Project

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The Authors Guild v. The Google Print Library Project
By Jonathan Band

Jonathan Band represents Internet companies and library associations with respect to intellectual property matters in Washington, D.C. He does not represent any party in connection to the Google Print Project. A version of this article first appeared in E-Commerce Law & Policy (August 2005).

Published October 15, 2005

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. These varying perceptions of the Print Library Project stem in part from confusion over exactly how much text will be viewable in response to a search query. 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....