The Authors Guild v. Google, Inc.

Filing 6

FORM C, on behalf of Appellant Jim Bouton, Joseph Goulden, Betty Miles and The Authors Guild, FILED. Service date 01/06/2014 by CM/ECF.[1126648] [13-4829]

Addendum A
1. Nature of the Action.
This action for copyright infringement was commenced on September 20,
2005. Plaintiffs-Appellants (the “Authors”) are: (i) Jim Bouton, Betty Miles and
Joseph Goulden, suing individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated; and
(ii) The Authors Guild, Inc., which is the nation’s largest organization of published
authors. The Authors Guild is an associational plaintiff seeking equitable relief for
authors affected by Google’s acts of copyright infringement. The individual Authors
seek statutory damages under the United States Copyright Act and injunctive relief
arising from Defendant-Appellee Google Inc.’s (“Google”) reproduction, public
display and distribution of copyright-protected works as part of its “Google Library
Project.”
In the Google Library Project, Google has partnered with university libraries
and other educational institutions located throughout the world to “digitize”
scan from analog to digital format

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or

tens of millions of printed books, in full, from

the library collections, the majority of which are protected by copyright. Google
then uses the scans to create multiple digital copies of each scanned book, store
them on servers connected to the Internet, make the books available to the public to
be searched and displayed in “snippet” form and distribute digital copies of the
books to the participating libraries. Google made all of these uses without the
consent of or compensation to the books’ rightsholders, and admittedly for the
commercial purpose of increasing Google’s advertising revenue and gaining a
competitive advantage in the online search engine market.

On March 22, 2011, following extensive negotiations and a lengthy briefing
process, the District Court rejected an amended proposed class settlement
agreement that would have resolved the entire case. Authors Guild v. Google Inc.,
770 F. Supp. 2d 666 (S.D.N.Y. 2011).
By order dated June 11, 2012, the District Court granted the Authors’ motion
for class certification. Authors Guild v. Google, Inc., 282 F.R.D. 384
(S.D.N.Y. 2012). That order was vacated by the United States Court of Appeals for
the Second Circuit on July 1, 2013 and the case was remanded to the District Court
for further proceedings with respect to the question whether Google’s actions were
protected as “fair use” under the Copyright Act. Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google Inc.,
721 F.3d 132 (2nd Cir. 2013).
2. The Result Below
In a decision dated November 14, 2013, the District Court granted Google’s
motion for summary judgment, dismissing all of the claims in the case and denying
the Authors’ motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of whether Google’s
conduct was fair use The judgment granting Google’s motion, denying the Authors’
motion and dismissing all of the Authors’ claims was entered on November 27, 2013
and was subsequently amended on December 11, 2013 to provide that any
application for attorneys’ fees be filed following resolution of any appeal.
3. Notice of Appeal and District Court Docket Sheet

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A copy of the Notice of Appeal, filed on December 23, 2013, is attached
hereto as Exhibit 1. A copy of the current docket sheet for the case in the District
Court is attached hereto as Exhibit 2.
4. The Opinion Below
A copy of the District Court’s Opinion, dated November 14, 2013, is attached
hereto as Exhibit 3. Copies of the Judgment entered November 27, 2013 and the
Amended Judgment, entered December 11, 2013, are attached hereto as Exhibits 4
and 5, respectively.