Authors Guild continues federal case against Google

Last October, in a long-running, literary-tech legal drama, Google asked a federal court to throw out the Authors Guild class action lawsuit against the search giant. The Authors Guild - and other writers' groups and governments worldwide - claim that Google's massive book-scanning and posting project is violating copyright and diminishing writers' incomes. Google asked that the suit be dropped because a poll said that most writers supported the scans.

But in early February, the guild filed its own brief with the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals asking that the class action proceed. "It is duplicitous," said the guild, "for Google to implement a single, mass digitization policy affecting the rights of so many authors while at the same time argue that its policy must be analyzed in countless separate lawsuits."

Despite many writers' enthusiasm for the scanning process, those authors who write for a living - as opposed to those who publish for other reasons - have good reason to be wary of a project which essentially gives their work away. As the brief notes, "Google has no evidence a single author has financially benefited from Google Books."

So far, U.S. courts have sided with Google. In 2005, the Authors Guild sued Google for scanning library books and displaying parts in search queries. The guild and Google reached a settlement but the federal court invalidated it citing antitrust concerns. While five major publishers settled with Google last year, the Authors Guild has continued on.

If the courts are indifferent to the plight of authors, public opinion may be more open. This past January, the Sundance Film Festival screened Google and the World Brain, a major documentary on the fight over digitization. As the film says:

"The most ambitious project ever conceived on the Internet: Google's master plan to scan every book in the world and the people trying to stop them. Google says they are building a library for mankind, but some say they also have other intentions."

Speed Matters supports fair and adequate copyright protections for authors - and photographers, videographers and artists - as well as for publishers.

Google asks court to ax book-scanning suit from Authors Guild (CNET, Nov. 12, 2012)
 
Authors Guild Presses Class-Action Case Against Google (Feb. 12, 2013)

Google and the World Brain (film website, Jan. 2013)