Snodgrass vs. Google Case Dismissed
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit that claimed Google infringed on his copyright. Gordon Roy Parker, of Snodgrass Publishing alleged in his 2004 lawsuit that Google violated his rights after its search engine archived a copy of his e-books that were later reproduced in Google's search engine results.
Snodgrass Publishing also claimed that Google was liable for defamation because the search company archived allegedly defamatory messages posted by Usenet users and that Google was invading his privacy by creating an “unauthorized biography” of him. The court said Google is immune because it either archived or provided access to content that was created by a third party.
In making the decision the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled that under case law, Google’s activities do not constitute infringement. Look for an appeal on this one.