There's equal reason to support or object to the proposed Google Books settlement.

Creating a digital catalog of the worlds' words might be the Holy Grail of intellectual empowerment.

Yet building that library in the clouds would be allowed without the rights-holders' consent – which the Justice Department and others contend is a complete and fundamental alteration of copyright law.

The Authors Guild is backing the settlement in hopes of creating a new and legitimate book-selling venue. In a message to members Friday, it supported the development of a digital marketplace for the world's words as a counter to digital piracy.

What's more, the group noted it didn't want to be like the Recording Industry Association of America. The labels' lobbying and litigation arm has sued thousands of individuals and music-trading sites – lawsuits that have not dented the illegal, pirated-music marketplace.

"Our settlement negotiations went on with full knowledge of what happened to the music industry. The RIAA won victory after victory, defeating Napster and Grokster with groundbreaking legal rulings. The RIAA also went after countless individuals, chasing down infringement wherever they could track it down," the guild said in a blog post Friday.

"It didn't work," the guild added. "The infringement just moved elsewhere, in unpredictable ways."

The group said it was settling even though it did not believe that unauthorized scans of books amounted to fair use under copyright law, as Google maintains. The guild said the outcome of litigation is never certain.

"One could fill a good-sized law school classroom with copyright professors who believe that Google's scanning of your books is a fair use," the group wrote.

Photo: babblingdweeb/Flickr

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