Google's display of thumbnail images in search results...

... is "fair use" and not a copyright violation:

"We conclude that the significantly transformative nature of Google's search engine, particularly in light of its public benefit, outweighs Google's superseding and commercial uses of the thumbnails in this case," Judge Sandra S. Ikuta wrote for the panel [in the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit]....

"We think this is a tremendous decision for the principle of fair use," said Art Brodsky, a spokesman for the Public Knowledge advocacy group. "It gives search engines and other useful services the ability to take advantage of computer technology in the search for and use of information."

And while we're celebrating copyright progress and at the risk of providing an opportunity for you to attack me for failing to denounce Alberto Gonzales for other things, let me use this occasion to denounce Alberto Gonzales for this legal excrescence.