Google wins rights to Usenet material

A US judge has dismissed the case against, ruling that none of the complaints had any merit

Google has won a two-year legal fight for the right to publish Usenet message board material on its website.

The case was brought after Gordon Roy Parker, who publishes his works on the internet under the name Snodgrass Publishing Group, sued Google for reprinting part of a book he wrote and posted on Usenet.

The excerpt, from the book 29 Reasons Not To Be A Nice Guy, was cached by Google and can be accessed via the search engine.

Parker sued Google in 2004 on 11 charges, including direct copyright infringement, racketeering and invasion of privacy.

"We note preliminarily that plaintiff's complaint is voluminous, consisting of 72 pages with 291 separate paragraphs of factual averments and legal allegations," reads the motion to dismiss the case, issued by the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

"In fact, plaintiff devotes the first 45 pages and 129 paragraphs, before any legal claims are stated, to an overview of the alleged wrongful conduct. Plaintiff's inclusion of '50,000 John Does' as defendants further confuses this already unwieldy complaint."

Judge Barclay Surrick dismissed the case, ruling that none of the complaints had any merit.

The case could be pivotal to Google's plans to digitize the world's libraries. The search giant faces serious legal problems from publishers, and this case will help add to the body of law it will draw on over the next year.