The Impact of Field v. Google, Inc. on Fair Use in the Internet

Kate Gukeisen
Published on December 10, 2013

This paper was written for IST735 Copyright for Information Professionals, and explores the impact of the 2006 case Field v. Google, Inc. on fair use in the Internet environment. In January 2006, the United States District Court of Nevada found that Google, Inc.’s use of cached copies Blake Field’s copyrighted work in their search engine was not in violation of copyright protection laws. The court found that Google’s use of Field’s work met the requirements specified in the Fair Use provision found in Section 107 of Title 17 of the U. S. Code; was protected under the safe harbor provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) found in Section 512 (a)-(d) of Title 17 of the U.S. Code; and supported Google, Inc.’s additional defense claims of implied license and estoppel. The court’s ruling was important to copyright holders, search engine providers, creators of search engine technology, and to the general public who could be found on both ends of the copyright balance between copyright holders and the users of their works.