I like your example quite a lot. I feel like if Google where providing a service that only indexed books, but did not provide any content, the authors guild would not have a leg to stand on.
In this altered Google Books service, let's say I search for the following phrase:
Then they were looking at the familiar environs of the ISS Flight Control Room,
which was at Johnson Space Center in Houston. The director of mission
operations was sitting in front of the camera stroking his iPad. He didn't seem
to be aware that the camera was on.
This "alternate universe Google Books" would present you with only the following information:
Book: Seveneves
Author: Neil Stephenson
Quote is found on page: XXXX
[ CLICK HERE TO BUY THIS BOOK! ]
The functionality of being a "Book search engine" would remain, without reproducing any copyrighted material. I imagine that this alternate version of Google Books would not incur any ire from the Authors Guild, or if they did take issue, Google's use of their books would be firmly upheld as fair use.
As it stands now, Google Books shows you some of each book you search for, and I suspect that's what the Authors Guild cares about.
The thing is, often times (and I'm assuming it is based on concessions with book publishers) they only show a very small amount of context for the quote -- just enough so you can make a decision if that was really what you were looking for (essentially what falls under common fair use guidelines). And they do have links to purchase the book.
They normally show you multiple pages surrounding the search result. I have often been able to use the result of a Google book search to never need to buy my own real copy.
Same here. I've used it to find the source of sentences for referencing in my academic papers. And read a page either side to make sure the context is appropriate.
In this altered Google Books service, let's say I search for the following phrase:
This "alternate universe Google Books" would present you with only the following information: The functionality of being a "Book search engine" would remain, without reproducing any copyrighted material. I imagine that this alternate version of Google Books would not incur any ire from the Authors Guild, or if they did take issue, Google's use of their books would be firmly upheld as fair use.As it stands now, Google Books shows you some of each book you search for, and I suspect that's what the Authors Guild cares about.