Fair Use Copyright Ruling Stands For Google Books

Last month, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in Authors Guild v. Google, Inc., the long-running copyright case involving Google's Google Books project.  The high court's refusal to hear the case leaves in place the Second Circuit's October 2015 decision in favor of Google and brings to a close this highly publicized and closely watched litigation, more than a decade after it began.  The Second Circuit's opinion, which the Supreme Court has left undisturbed, held that Google Books is protected as fair use, a conclusion considered by many to be emblematic of a recent trend toward expansion of the fair use doctrine.  To wrap up our coverage of this case, we offer a recap of the issues and a summary of the Second Circuit's legal analysis.