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.
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