
At face value, it is reasonable to be concerned that the existence of exact digital copies of books might present a risk that the actual books would no longer be purchased, or even "necessary." However, per the judge's opinion, there are multiple reasons why there is no real danger of that fear coming to fruition. Firstly, the security measures employed by Google prevent anyone from being able to piece together the search tool's "snippet" results into a complete book; certain sections are "blacklisted," ensuring that even the most determined researcher could not access an entire work via strategic querying. Secondly, many feel that these snippets actually serve as free advertising for the books they represent, functioning similarly to the "sneak peak" feature that often appears in Amazon.com's book-selling section, for example. Potential readers (aka buyers) can use Google Books to search for a specific passage or particular topic in which they are interested, and be directed to precisely the volume that they need, at which point they can go ahead and buy the actual book.
Even in instances where Google scans and makes available an entire work for a particular library, the Court found that this still falls under the category of "fair use," as the library already owns the book itself, and merely makes use of the digital copies for purposes that "advance the progress of the arts and sciences" and aid in accessibility for the visually-impaired and other underserved populations. To be sure, Google's ultimate goal (as with any other company) is to make money. But since they are not selling the actual images of the books they are digitizing—even though they neither request authorization from nor offer compensation to the copyright holders of those works—there is no issue of their unlawfully profiting from material that they neither create nor own.
The Authors Guild plans to appeal the judge's ruling, no doubt concerned that such a precedent might encourage abuse of the "fair use" statute by other companies. Meanwhile, Google Books hopes for a similar judgment in their favor in a complaint currently being brought against them by a photographers' trade group.