So, you know that book-scanning legal battle that Google has been fighting for the past eight years against the Authors Guild? Google just won.

In a New York court, Judge Denny Chin ruled that Google can continue its book-scanning ways because it’s fair use, being how it’s “highly transformative”. It doesn’t hurt the original market for the material, he found, noting that it has become an important tool for researchers.

Here’s the ruling in its entirety (via GigaOm):

According to Chin, Google’s book search tool can lead to new income for authors, rather than depriving authors of it, as Google doesn’t sell scanned books or make whole books available.

The judge has found what many fair use advocates have been saying for years, but now a major precedent has been set.