Google faces massive copyright suit

[rose]

googleprint: Search the full text of books

Public domain books: When we scan a book from a library that is in the public domain, you can view the entire page as well as read through the entire book.

Books submitted by a publisher: For books that publishers have submitted, you will be able to view a full page and a few pages on either side.

Library books still in copyright: For books that we have scanned from a library which are still in copyright, you will only be able to view the bibliographic information and a few short sentences of text around your search term.

http://print.google.com/googleprint/screenshots.html

[Jen]

I can tell you that the "information for publishers" is complete BS. Two of my clients have copyrighted books scanned in there, and they never gave permission to google.

[Jen]

The main issue with this is that they are reproducing without permission.

Plus, each time you log in with a different username the slate is wiped clean, so you can go to the next 5 pages.  Google says that they disable the print function, but it just takes the print screen button or a screenshot to get around that.

[mandy]

Interview: Patricia Schroeder, president of the Association of American Publishers, says Google Print is dangerous because it will set a precedent for illegally duplicating copyrighted materials.

full article and interview: http://www.publish.com/article2/0,1895,1877127,00.asp

[Jen]

Their complaint was that it was too hard to find out the copyright owner. And our reply was, it really isn't. Every book has an ISBN number. And this isn't a new thing, the system's been around for years. It's not like there isn't a quick and easy way. But they seemed to think that our system was somebody sitting in a room with catalog cards in a shoebox.

Now really, how hard is it to figure out a copyright owner?  That's about the most ridiculous justification I've seen.

[Jen]

Here's an intersting article on the "Open Library" project, which is similar to Google's print project, but gets proper copyright clearance:

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5915690.html

[rose]

[quote author=Jen link=topic=472.msg3809#msg3809 date=1130403242]

Their complaint was that it was too hard to find out the copyright owner. And our reply was, it really isn't. Every book has an ISBN number. And this isn't a new thing, the system's been around for years. It's not like there isn't a quick and easy way. But they seemed to think that our system was somebody sitting in a room with catalog cards in a shoebox.

Now really, how hard is it to figure out a copyright owner?  That's about the most ridiculous justification I've seen.
[/quote]

old books don't have ISBNs but they show an author or publisher 

[Kristijntje]

Google Inc. plans to resume its controversial copying of library books next week, despite two lawsuits from publishers and authors opposed to the project.

The Mountain View, Calif., search-engine giant would restart the program Nov. 1, as planned

full article: http://www.techweb.com/wire/ebiz/172901484

[mandy]

A related development:

Google today found itself accused of damaging the fundraising efforts of a London children's hospital which has relied for more than 75 years on royalities from J M Barrie's Peter Pan.

The Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity is angry that Google's policy of making literature freely available online will hit the hospital's finances hard, potentially costing it millions of pounds.

Barrie donated all British royalties and performing rights from the work, including popular stage version widely performed at Christmas time, to the hospital in 1929.

full article: http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/arti...03,00.html

[rose]

In 1988, before copyright in the book, Peter Pan, expired, Parliament passed an amendment to the Copyright Act that extended Great Ormond Street's rights to Peter Pan earnings in the UK in perpetuity

A Google spokesperson today told Times Online that the online copy "looks like it has been provided ...via the Google Print Publishing Programme which means the book has been submitted by the publisher". This was emphatically denied by the spokesman for the charity, who pointed out that the book is under copyright in the US until 2023