Now Association of American Publishers sues Google

Now Association of American Publishers sues Google

Google is finding their Google Print program in more troubles. They are already having legal issues over content copyright with the Authors Guild and the latest news is that another organization, Association of American Publishers has sued them for similar reasons. They also claim that Google is breaking copyright laws by scanning and indexing books for display in search engine results.

Google started their Google Print program with the aim of scanning and indexing millions of books available with three major university libraries — Harvard, Stanford and Michigan and making them available for search. They have given a particular time period for the authors of these books to inform them if they have any objection to this process. Some other universities are also supporting the project but only with the books, which are no longer copyrighted by their authors.

The latest suite is represented by five publishers as plaintiffs: McGraw-Hill, Pearson Education, Penguin Group USA, Simon & Schuster and John Wiley & Sons. They are for now only claiming the legal costs as compensation. However, Google continues to claim that their efforts come under fair use under copyright law and supports the purpose of copyright by promoting the books to their prospective readers who might get interested in purchasing a legitimate copy from Google supported online stores.