ARL, ALA, ACRL, and EFF File Friend of the Court Brief Supporting Google Book Settlement

From The Library Copyright Alliance (ALA, ACRL, and ARL):

On August 1, 2012, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) joined other members of the Library Copyright Alliance (LCA)—the American Library Association (ALA) and the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)—and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) to file a friend of the court brief (PDF) in Authors Guild v. Google, Inc., a lawsuit in which authors allege that Google violated copyright by scanning books to create Google Book Search (GBS), a search tool similar to its Internet search engine. The LCA/EFF brief defends GBS as permissible under the doctrine of fair use, a flexible right that allows copying without payment or permission where the public benefit strongly outweighs the harm to individual rightsholders.
The LCA/EFF brief argues that Google Book Search is tremendously beneficial to the public, that this public benefit tilts the analysis firmly in favor of fair use, that a legislative “fix” is both unnecessary and unworkable, and that the Authors Guild should not be permitted to shut down Google Book Search after encouraging public reliance on the tool for years.
On August 1, 2012, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) joined other members of the Library Copyright Alliance (LCA)—the American Library Association (ALA) and the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)—and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) to file a friend of the court brief (PDF) in Authors Guild v. Google, Inc., a lawsuit in which authors allege that Google violated copyright by scanning books to create Google Book Search (GBS), a search tool similar to its Internet search engine. The LCA/EFF brief defends GBS as permissible under the doctrine of fair use, a flexible right that allows copying without payment or permission where the public benefit strongly outweighs the harm to individual rightsholders.

Amicus Brief Filed By Library Copyright Alliance Re: Googe Books Settlement (8/31/2012

Filed under: Academic Libraries, Associations and Organizations, Digital Preservation, Libraries, News