Seems to be missing the point. Courts pass judgment, typically, on areas of law that are not covered directly by existing legislation. If there was a Federal law saying specifically "You shall not scan and store books without the permission of the author.", it seems unlikely Google would have won. The upthread point wasn't that "benefits the public" was the only criteria for courts to use, just that it was the guiding principle to use in cases of ambiguity.
Not to mention the fact that most tend to forget: copyright law in the US was not designed to create "intellectual property" out of thin air, but very explicitly "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts". That's the original basis of Fair Use in the US (coming to us from British law) until it was later codified explicitly in the 1970s.
The four factors of fair use (each of which the judge discusses for this case) help balance the rights of the "Authors and Inventors" against the public's, but it's important to always remember that the primary purpose of copyright is advancing the public good.
i don't think any justification is going to change your mind. My opinions are shared by many other people. I know that many people view this issue as black and white, that a corporation should have rights to scan books and use that data to freely help the public and share those books freely to millions of people so they can help authors out by buying tons more of their books.
i think it's more complex than that. authors aren't patent trolls. many spend years upon years creating their work and the fact that they own the work they create puts them at ease and allows them to focus solely on their work. To know that they have control of their work is really necessary support for creating the best environment for authors.
i'm not talking about publishing companies either. An individual author should be able to opt out of being scanned by corporations, whether it benefits him or not, whether it increases his sales or not. That really is his choice. The individual author has a choice to DECREASE sales of his work if he chooses. After all, that is his product that he personally created.
