RE : More on Google

["Declan Butler, Journalist, Nature" <d.butler@nature-france.com>]

http://makeashorterlink.com/?P3B82146A

Nature 433, 446 (03 February 2005); doi:10.1038/433446a 	
 
Publishers irritated by Google's digital library 

DECLAN BUTLER 

Plan to digitize university library collections sparks copyright spat. 

[PARIS] 

A spat is brewing between academic publishers and Google over the
Internet-search company's plans to digitize and index library collections
at major research universities.

Late last year, Google, based in Mountain View, California, announced a
decade-long project to scan millions of volumes at the universities of
Harvard, Stanford, Michigan and Oxford, as well as the New York Public
Library. The resulting archive would allow computer users worldwide to
search the texts online. But some publishers complain that they weren't
consulted by Google, and that scanning library collections could be
illegal.

Under the scheme, people searching with Google would find library volumes
relevant to their query at the top of their search results. Clicking on a
title would allow them to browse images of the full text of works in the
public domain. Only brief excerpts and bibliographic data would be shown
for material under copyright. Participating libraries would also be given
a digital copy of their collection.

Google describes the initiative as an extension of Google Print
(http://www.print.google.com), which is based on agreements with
publishers and allows the full text of books to be searched. Google
Print's results provide a brief excerpt of the text, together with a link
to publishers or booksellers that sell the book and to libraries that hold
it.

But Google has not yet struck any legal agreements with publishers, either
individually or collectively, for the research-library initiative, says
Sally Morris, chief executive of the Association of Learned and
Professional Society Publishers, the international trade body for
not-for-profit publishers. Few publishers would want to opt out of the
library scheme, Morris says - but they need to be asked to provide the
appropriate permission.

Copyright material generally carries some variation of a warning banning
the reproduction, storage or distribution of copies of the work without
the publisher's permission. Scanning a book constitutes making a copy and
so is only allowed with permission, say lawyers from several publishers.
They also argue that an exception under US law that allows libraries to
copy texts for preservation purposes would not apply in this case. Nor
would making copies for 'fair use', given that Google is a commercial
company.

A spokesman for Google says that it will "respect the rights of copyright
holders", and that it "prefers to work directly with publishers to bring
copyrighted books online". Google "has been working closely with
publishers to help them connect with more readers online", he adds.

Part of the uncertainty stems from the fact that there seems to have been
little discussion so far between Google and publishers, says Terry
Hulbert, head of electronic development and strategy at the UK Institute
of Physics. "Someone clearly needs to have a chat with the 800-pound
gorilla sat in the corner," he observes. "There is no question that Google
should have spoken to the learned societies and publishers beforehand.
Systematic digitization of copyright content is absolutely something they
cannot do without seeking approval of the rights holders."

Peter Kosewski, director of publications and communications at Harvard
University Library, says the library believes that the way Google intends
to handle copyright works is consistent with the law. Harvard is carrying
out a pilot with Google on 40,000 titles before making a decision on
digitizing its entire 15-million-volume collection. "We have a number of
questions that will be answered by the pilot project, and that includes
copyright issues," he says. "We think it is a great programme Google has
put together."

C 2005 Nature Publishing Group
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-----Original Message-----
[mailto:owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Joseph Esposito
Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2005 3:03 AM
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: More on Google

I just stumbled across the following in a FAQ on the Stanford Web site:

"Will books scanned at Stanford be available to the general public? In
what format?

"Materials that are clearly in the public domain (mostly materials with
publication dates of 1922 or earlier) will be available to the general
public through Google. All users should be able to view the full text of
public domain materials online. This will be part of "Google Print"; see
http://print.google.com/ for more about the services offered.

"Google is exploring options for displaying snippets of copyrighted
materials online in ways that adhere closely to appropriate copyright
protections. Access to digitized content served by Stanford will be
restricted to members of the Stanford community."

JE:  Note that last sentence.  One interpretation of it (and only one:
this is not the most informative FAQ I have ever seen) is that some
copyrighted books in the Stanford Library will be mounted on a Stanford
server for access by the Stanford community.  That means that the sale of
one hardcopy yields community-wide access.  I am curious to know if
members of this list believe that this is allowable under copyright law,
or if a copyright-holder's permission is required for community-wide
dissemination.

-- 
Joe Esposito