Copyright- Fair Use and the Public Good

In a recent decision, the 2nd Circuit upheld Google’s practice of “digitizing” books to make them available to internet users without permission from copyright holders.  After analyzing the four factor “fair use” test, the court determined that Google’s use, which admittedly resulted in complete and unchanged copies of the original protected works, was important to advancing public knowledge.  In this case, it’s important to keep in mind that Google’s resulting database does not allow users to view the entire book, but allowed users to search and view randomized pages for free.