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Justices Write End to Authors' Challenge of Google Books

By Tony Mauro
May 01, 2016

The U.S. Supreme Court ended a decade-long battle over Google, Inc.'s massive book-scanning project last month, declining to take up an appeal by authors who claimed the company violated copyright law “on an epic scale.”

The justices denied certiorari in Authors Guild v. Google, 15-849, leaving in place a ruling last year by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that said Google's project was permissible. See, The Author's Guild v. Google, 13-4829-cv (2d Cir 2015). The appeals court decision invoked the “fair use” doctrine, which permits some “socially beneficial” use of published works ' such as news reporting or research ' that would otherwise constitute copyright infringement.

“Today authors suffered a colossal loss,” Authors Guild president Roxana Robinson said in a statement. “We filed the class action lawsuit against Google in September 2005 because, as we stated then, 'Google's taking was a plain and brazen violation of copyright law.' We believed then and we believe now that authors should be compensated when their work is copied for commercial purposes.”

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