Google is potentially up for $2 billion in compensation for scanning millions of university library books without seeking permission. The Authors Guild claim is a long-running lawsuit that is testing the U.S. copyright law to the limit.
Back in 2004, Google persuaded several universities to scan their libraries, without the author's permission, and to make extracts of those books available online via Google’s search engine.
Google was consequently sued by individual writers, publishers and the Authors Guild. A litigation that has had a tortured history, resulted in a settlement that a federal judge rejected last year.
The fight is back on.
The guild is now seeking a minimum of $750 in copyright damages for each piece of work that has been infringed. Yay!
I wonder if mine have been infringed??? I never thought to look.
The moral here is one that serious writers the world over are only too aware of - DON’T PLAGIARIZE - even if you are big and powerful. Someone somewhere is bound to catch you out...
