Re: NYTimes.com Article: The Coming Search Wars

["Samuel E. Trosow" <strosow@uwo.ca>]

There's a certain irony in Google's plans as reported in the story below.  
On the one hand, the collection is in the public domain and it is being
supported by a research university.  On the other hand, we're told that
the collection "would be available exclusively via Google". If copyright
has expired, and if the works are in the public domain, then how can
Google claim any sort of "exclusive" right?

Samuel Trosow
University of Western Ontario

Ann Okerson wrote:

> The Coming Search Wars
>
> February 1, 2004
> By JOHN MARKOFF 
> [SNIP]
>
> The company has also been pushing hard to find new sources of information
> to index, beyond material that is already stored in a digital form. In
> December, it began an experiment with book publishers to index parts of
> books, reviews and other bibliographic information for Web surfers.
>
> And Google has embarked on an ambitious secret effort known as Project
> Ocean, according to a person involved with the operation. With the
> cooperation of Stanford University, the company now plans to digitize the
> entire collection of the vast Stanford Library published before 1923,
> which is no longer limited by copyright restrictions. The project could
> add millions of digitized books that would be available exclusively via
> Google.
>
> [SNIP]
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/01/business/yourmoney/01goog.html?ex=1076656217&ei=1&en=4b6f8e48bd185e98
>
> For general information about NYTimes.com, write to 
> help@nytimes.com.  
> Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
>
> ****