AAP/Google in Chronicle of Higher Education

["Bolick, Bob" <Bob_Bolick@mcgraw-hill.com>]

Hi, Chuck --

Let me take a shot at explaining where the publishers are coming from on
the copyright point.  On the innovation front, almost all of us are
cheering and want to figure out for ourselves, our shareholders, our
authors, and other allied stakeholders how best (legally and respectfully)
to foster this sort of innovation.  But in general, this is a situation
where ends do not justify means.

The benefits of the exclusive reproduction right provided in Section
106(1) of the Copyright Act means that simply making a copy of a
copyright-protected work infringes the copyright owner's right to control
reproduction, even if the copy is not distributed or displayed. The
qualification of the rights of a copyright owner by "fair use" privilege
or other statutory limitations do not vitiate the exclusive reproduction
right.  To put it another way, if you must copy and store in your
databases every work in its entirety in order to use so-called "snippets,"
then it ain't fair use.

If the law were otherwise interpreted and applied, the reproduction right
would be meaningless except in cases where the distribution, performance
or display rights were also implicated by proven conduct. Neither Congress
nor any federal court has ever suggested this result. In specifically
providing a reproduction right, the copyright law reasonably assumes that
people do not make copies of a copyright-protected work without intending
to use the copy in some manner, and that the ready ability of the copier
or anyone else who has access to the copies to use them in a manner that
could implicate other rights of the copyright owner justifies restricting
the right to make such copies without the copyright owner's authorization
or some other specific authorization under the law.

So, unauthorized scanning is indeed itself an issue with Google or any
other person or entity that makes copies of copyright-protected works in
their entirety without permission from the copyright owner or
authorization under a specific provision of federal law.

Hope that helps.

Regards, Bob

Robert Bolick
Vice President
Global Business Planning
McGraw-Hill Education
2 Penn Plaza, 25th Floor, New York, NY 10121
(O) 212.904.5934    (M) 646.431.8121
IM: bobb@nexus.eppg.com
IM: b6b2y@aol.com
Internet ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.1570/b01b01b