Google Gets Sued!

Here's something new I wrote for Publish.com, click the link to read the rest...

The future of digital libraries seemed to ride on a single lawsuit last week, as the New York-based Authors Guild went to war against search king and Internet superpower Google.

Led by three Authors Guild members, the complaint seeks unspecified damages and a permanent injunction to shut down Google Print—a fledgling service that will scan digital copies of millions of books from five prestigious research collections, allowing Google users access to bite-sized pieces of this database through keyword searches.

"The authors are all tremendously supportive," said Paul Aiken, a spokesperson for the Authors Guild, a legal organization that defends over 8,000 members. "They told us, 'It's about time somebody did this.'"

Google responded with an unapologetic press release: "Just as Google helps you find sites you might not have found any other way by indexing the full text of web pages, Google Print, like an electronic card catalog, indexes book content to help users find, and perhaps buy, books."

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