Brief of Amicus Curiae Authors Alliance in Support of Defendant-Appellees and Affirmance (The Authors Guild, Inc., et al. v. Google, Inc., et al.) (Second Circuit)

Abstract

In this case the Authors Guild has challenged the legality of Google's scanning, indexing, and display of snippets through its Book Search tool. Authors Alliance submitted this brief in support of Google because the dismantling of Book Search would be harmful to Authors Alliance's mission of helping authors reach readers. Book Search is an important tool through which Authors Alliance members can reach wider audiences. Many Authors Alliance members are authors of the sort of books Google scanned most often for Book Search, which are those typically found in research library collections.

The brief explains three reasons why Google's Book Search uses are fair uses under U.S. copyright law: First, because Google’s method of making books more findable — including displaying snippets of text — represents a significant transformative use that is unlikely to serve as a substitute for the original works; second, because Google Books does precisely what authors of books in research library collections want for their books in rescuing them from obscurity in print library collections and making them more discoverable online; and third, because by making knowledge more accessible, Google Books provides broad social benefits to both authors and the public.

Keywords: copyright, transformative, fair use, Google, HathiTrust, Authors Alliance, academic authors, search engine