Google Inc. Initiated Two Projects in 2002 to Expand Its Search Engine Capability From

Fair use

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What is fair use? The term ‘fair use’ often has a vague definition, but in a general sense it means you can duplicate or quote copyrighted material for limited and transformative purposes. The latter term of ‘transformative’, however, is particularly ambiguous, which tends to lead to a ‘fair use’ defence against copyright infringement claims. With that ambiguity in mind, consider the following copyright scenario:

Google Inc. initiated two projects in 2002 to expand its search engine capability from online text to books, photographs and other still images and video. The results were Google Book Search and Google Image Search. Google Book Search was Google’s project to digitise the books in several university libraries, including those at Stanford, the University of Michigan, Harvard and Oxford. The idea was to create what the company described as an electronic card catalogue available over the Web (Google, 2014).

Google committed more than $200 million to digitally scan and store more than 15 million books by 2015.Google claimed that the project constituted ‘fair use’ of books that were lawfully purchased by the libraries involved. On October 19, 2005, several leading publishers (including Simon & Schuster and McGraw Hill) sued Google in New York federal court for copyright infringement, claiming that Google’s activities went far beyond the accepted bounds of fair use (Links & Law, 2005). The Authors Guild filed a similar lawsuit. Google Image Search retrieved thumbnails – small, low-resolution versions of photographs – and created an in-line link users could click on to view the full image on the copyright holder’s webpage. Once again, the copyright holders sued and Google claimed fair use.

Do you think Google had a valid claim to fair use in either lawsuit? For this Discussion, consider the cases of both Google and the copyright infringement claims of the various plaintiffs, and then take a position on the validity of Google’s fair use defence. If you want to take a look at the original case or Google Books, you can find sources in the Learning Resources.

To complete this Discussion:

Post:Create an initial post in which you evaluate the validity of Google’s fair use defence in the presented copyright infringement scenario. Begin by defining what ‘fair use’ is and is not. Then, analyse how the arguments of both the plaintiffs and defence apply (or do not apply) to the claim of ‘fair use’. Use this information as the basis of your evaluation. Citation base on the learning resources avail below.

Learning Resources.

Links & Law. (2005)Google Print – Let the legal battle begin: September/October 2005[Online]. Available from: 08 January 2015).

COPYRIGHT BASICS: WHAT IS COPYRIGHT LAW? (2005). Retrieved September 29, 2013, from

Biers, J. (2013). US judge weighs Google book copyright case. Retrieved September 29, 2013, from

Google. (n.d.). About Google Books. Retrieved September 29, 2013, from

Google Inc. (n.d.). Legal Analysis - Google Books. Retrieved September 29, 2013, from

Legal Information Institute. (n.d.). USC § 107 - Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use. Retrieved September 29, 2013, from

Stim, R. (2010). Fair Use. Retrieved September 29, 2013, from