Another lawsuit has been filed against Google, this time by the Association of American Publishers. The suit is similiar to the one filed a few weeks ago by the Authors' Guild, which claims Google Print's plans to scan and index books for the internet violates copyright laws.

I really don't understand how this could possibly hold up in court. Google Print does not allow you to read books for free online. When you search a phrase with Google Print, it retrieves relevant book pages and highlights the search phrase. But it only provides access to 3-4 pages of the print. I suppose someone could read three pages, do another search to get the next three, and keep doing this until they've pirated the entire book. But you would think publishers would be pleased with Google Print. It is essentially free advertising. Google not only connects readers with books they are interested in and gives them a preview, but it also provides links to Amazon and other sites where the book can be purchased.

This is really something that should be embraced by both authors and publishers, instead of selfishly resisted.