Google Facing Copyright Infringement for eBooks (for the last 6 years)

You know, I have been wondering how Google has gotten away with digitizing books and offering full access to them for a price like they do on Google Books without facing copyright infringement lawsuits or something of the sort.

Turns out they are facing copyright infringement suites and they have been for the last 6 years. Who knew.

Now, 6 years into this litigation, a proposal drafted by has been rejected by U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin.

Google has proposed to pay royalties to the owners of the copyrights for each of the books it scanned. But, apparently, the problem is that for quite a few of the books, the owners of the copyrights can't be accurately determined, and so much of the money they'd be offering to pay wouldn't be able to go to anybody. Quite a conundrum.

Furthermore the deal would allow the internet giant to continue to digitize books while paying said royalties, potentially leading to a "universal library" of books on the internet. While this seems like a great idea, apparently Judge Denny Chin thinks this deal is "going too far" even despite the benefits that having such a large digital library would bring.

The proposal would clearly give Google a market advantage in terms of selling eBooks. Whereas other companies would be required to get permission of the copyright holder to digitize and sell eBooks, Google could go on digitizing and selling without seeking the appropriate permission.

Fair? No. And Judge Chin doesn't think so either.

I can definitely see the benefit of having such a huge library of books available online. I've used Google Books many many times to finish that last minute school paper without having to go all the way to the library. But I can certainly see the issues, and it definitely wouldn't be cool to see other eBook publishers shoved out of the market due to a near monopoly (that we all know Google could accomplish) on eBooks.

See the story on BBC News, or for more in-depth coverage check out this article on ComputerWorld