Appeals court halts proceedings in Google Books case

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit granted a stay in the long-running copyright case between the Authors Guild and Google over the search giant’s book scanning project.

In its order, the New York court agreed to stay proceedings in a lower court while it reviews Judge Denny Chin’s decision last May to certify the class action — a move that allowed authors and illustrators to go forward with claims that Google scanned their works without permission. The decision means that the overall case will be on hold for several months. If the appeals court upholds the certification order, it will likely return the case to Judge Chin (who is now on the Second Circuit too) with detailed instructions about how to proceed.