I’ve given this whole Google Books infringement issue a long think…For my midterm paper, I discussed the copy infringement case that took place earlier this decade between Google and Perfect 10, a pornographic website that claimed that Google allowed for the infringement of the images on their website. Ultimately, Google won, proving that their use of the images, and their entire search engine, falls under the auspices of fair use. This case set the tone for the Google Books case that was building up while the Perfect 10 case was wrapping up. If Google makes the case that their use of other websites’ images is fair use, then it helps their argument that their use of other works, even if they’re books, can be considered fair. As recently as last month, the first leg of the Google Books case began, but the judge ruling on this case has admitted that this will undoubtedly be a lengthy process.

Why? Because there are too many issues involved, too many questions to be asked, and a great deal of future implications that must be taken into consideration before a decision can be reached. This case is an attempt to break up Google’s prospective monopoly power, by companies such as Microsoft, but those opposed to the launch of Google Books also includes groups who are not concerned with Google’s monopoly status, like the National Federation of the Blind.

Like I pointed out in class, if it’s not Google, it’ll be some other company who takes the initiative and scans every book out there, whether it’s the Library of Congress or Amazon-Kindle (the likely competitor). Life is becoming increasingly digital; the world can be reached in the palm of our hands. I see multiple Kindles each time I ride the subway. The scanning of books is inevitable, the question is, will Google be the company to do it or not?

It seems like just about everyone is out to get Google. I wrote my midterm paper about a copyright infringement case against Google by a pornographic website, Perfect 10, which claimed that Google directed users to third party websites that contained their copyrighted images. Next up, it was publishing companies and authors around the world who claimed that Google infringed their rights by scanning their books into the Google system without permission. Now, and seemingly not the last such case, the artists who contributed their illustrations to those scanned books are taking a stab at Google.

I can’t help but think that everyone who feels like they are entitled to is jumping on the bandwagon against Google. I am not Google’s lawyer by any means, but as an avid user of the platform, I see more benefit than harm in the overall actions. This is by no means an attempt to take away from or invalidate the above claims that copyrights were infringed, however, are these companies or groups of people oblivious to the fact that this is the direction our society is going in? Everything is becoming digital, and although my eyes may hurt to stare at a computer screen all day versus reading from a book, I too cannot change the shift we are embarking on. We need to embrace these changes, even though they are leading us into new territory, a world that is becoming increasingly digital. Google has certainly helped facilitate this shift, and it has changed the way we as users of the Internet go about our daily activities. Part of embracing the change is adjusting copyright laws to include innovations such as scanned texts and the images that come along with them.