Analysis Of The Legal Issues Of Digital Library

This thesis systematically discusses The Authors Guild v. Google which was focused by global media because of its controversial nature, and provides an in depth analysis on related key issues.The commencement and proposed settlement of this case is the indication of another institutional conflict between traditional copyright system and the requirement of information communication in the internet era.At this point, the research of this case in China are mostly focused on topic of traditional libraries, digital resources and the measure needs to take in order to avoid litigation risk in the field of Library and Information Science. Legal analysis on other related issues, especially on the antitrust issue brought by the first proposed settlement is inadequate. In the mean time, the factual report on this case and the analysis on the influence on copyright owners in China has not been seen yet.Therefore, this thesis provides an in depth analysis on the related copyright issues. While using the traditional four-factor analysis under US copyright law, this thesis provides new factors into its "Fair Use" analysis, and gives its own conclusion.At the same time, this thesis analyzes that the core issue of this case has been shifting from copyright conflicts involving infringement and fair use doctrine to a greater extend, including the crossover issues of copyright and antitrust law.This thesis uses the methods of case studies, comparative analysis, empirical analysis, and dialectical analysis, and complies theory with facts, in order to analyzes the factual and legal issues related to this case, especially the application of fair use doctrine in this case and the prediction whether this proposed settlement of this case would be rejected by the court.Furthermore, this thesis considers the influence of this case upon right-holders in China, in accordance with the fair use system related to Chinese copyright law, compared with its US counterparts, and what kind of strategy might be used to protect their rights. While encouraging the right-holders to fight for their copyrights, this thesis gives a complete consideration of the advantage and disadvantage of each strategy, and advises the right-holders to choose a strategy, which not only maintains the best interest of individual, but also protects public interest.The Authors Guild v. Google is a typical case of the new era in which the expanding internet industry has conflict of interest with traditional paper-based printing industry, and contradicts with the traditional copyright statutes and theory. The aim of this thesis is to provide coverage of this case and through this case to the whole picture, in order to benefit the theoretical, statutory and practical research of copyright law in China.