This article attempts to assess whether or not the reproduction of copyrighted works under the Google Library Project can be classified as fair use.  This assessment is made through an examination of potential court rulings with regard to the four factors used to determine fair use.  The article points out that a finding of fair use could be likely with regard to the first factor, purpose and character of the use.  It states that Google’s use could be considered transformative as its function of indexing works, differs greatly from the function of the original works and thus “does not supplant the original.”

            The article also identifies potential problems that could arise in attempting to apply the second and third factors, nature of the work and amount used, to Google’s use.  According to this article, the issue with the second factor is that Google makes no distinction between factual and creative works; however, this distinction carries great importance in a fair use determination.  The third factor provides problems as there are two possible ways in which the amount used could be judged.  Although Google displays only a few sentences surrounded the item searched, an entire copy of the work is made in order to digitize the original.  The article alludes that this copying may not be considered fair.

            With regard to the fourth factor, effect on the market, the article states that Google’s library project could potentially have a negative effect on the market as it could prevent copyright holders from being able to license their works to other search engines.  However, the article notes that this is unlikely as many copyright holders do not charge a license fee to participate in Google’s publisher program.  Moreover the article points out that since many of the works in the library project are orphan works, there cannot be a negative effect on the market.