Court lets Google appeal digital books class status

The 2^nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York now granted Google the permission to appeal the granting of class status to thousands of authors suing the search engine company over its plan to create world’s largest library for digital books. Having scanned more than 20 million books already, Google should pay 750 dollars for each book copied, according to Authors Guild, a group, representing authors. Decertifying the class, the 2^nd US Circuit Court could make it more difficult for authors to win a large award against Google, either at trial or in a settlement. Google countered in a court filing that many class members benefitted economically by the scanned books and that case-by-case determinations were needed to show whether it was making “fair use” of plaintiffs’ works. Now the court has granted Google the permission to challenge a May 31 decision by U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin letting authors sue as a group rather than individually.