My latest Publishers Weekly column, Eight Years Later, the Google Books Fight Lumbers On uses the occasion of the latest briefs in the Google Books lawsuit to reflect on why the case is still with us:
Like a pair of boxers staggering from their corners for the ninth round, Google and the Authors Guild traded another round of briefs last week in their long-running, slow-moving Google Books fight. There is very little left to be said at this point in the case, and they said it at great length. The question is, why are they still fighting? …
For the Authors Guild, going after Google is a matter of principle. The suit reflects a common sentiment among copyright owners: that Google is getting rich in a business that involves copyrighted content, so, therefore, a part of that profit is rightly theirs. But unlike in the now-settled publishers’ suit, the emphasis is on “rightly” rather than on”profit.” What the Authors Guild seeks is a judicial declaration of authorial power, an official statement from the courts recognizing the proper place of arts and letters in our national culture.