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Google in Wall St. Journal



There is an essay in today's (Dec. 1) Wall Street Journal on Google and
copyright.  An excerpt:

"In coming months the courts will have to work toward an equitable
compensation system for intellectual-property owners whose works are being
pirated for the financial gain of third parties like Google. The Institute
for Policy Innovation estimates that each year the U.S. produces roughly $1
trillion of intellectual property -- 40% of the world total. It is our
primary export in the global marketplace.

"The U.S. government is rightly fixated on deterring piracy of U.S. patents
and copyrights in nations such as China and India -- a theft that costs
American firms tens of billions of dollars. If the U.S. government won't
fully protect these intellectual-property rights at home, it undermines the
case for protecting them abroad. Google ought to steer clear of this
expensive legal thicket by accelerating what it has already started to do:
Enter into revenue-sharing agreements with such content providers as Sony,
Reuters, and the Associated Press."

Note that sentence:  "It is our primary export in the global marketplace."

Joe Esposito