The Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers sued Google, arguing that by scanning copyrighted books into their database, and by distributing snippets from them, Google violated their copyrights. Google disagreed, arguing that its copying was fair use. But before the issues could be determined by a court, the parties settled.
The settlement was, characteristically for Google, a masterstroke of creativity. In return for modest payments to Guild and AAP members, Google obtained copyright immunity for its Google Books project. But the settlement sought to do more — Google would be free to include orphan works in its database — even though the authors of these works, by definition, were not represented in the settlement negotiations. Royalties would be directed to the owners of orphan works if they later surfaced.