In 2004 Google started to partially scan millions of books to have the largest digital library on the Internet, a project that would allow us to search by words and have access to immense material within a few clicks.
This is how Google Books was born, and there began a legal battle that, after ten years, ends today with a winner: Google.
The Supreme Court has put an end point by rejecting those who accused Google of a blatant violation of copyright law: The Union of Authors, which began to complain about the project in 2005, arguing that Google Books had published the work of many authors for free on the Internet, although remember that in Google Books we usually have mainly book files, in addition to some complete titles.
For Google, this is a great step in allowing access to many texts that would otherwise accumulate dust within public libraries around the world, since this is where the comparison can be made. Google does not offer the latest bestseller in Google Books, it offers what is already available for free in libraries in different cities, although in this case in digital format and with a search option. In fact, in most cases they are fragments, not whole books.
According to the Supreme Court, Google Books is transformative and in line with copyright law: The product acts as a token catalog for the digital age, giving people a new way to find and buy books, while at the same time time watches over the interests of the authors.
