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The Association of American Publishers (AAP) has
sued Google over the Google Print for Libraries
project. this lawsuit is separate from a similar action
brought by the Authors Guild about a month ago. The
AAP represents over 300 publishers, including some of the world’s largest: Pearson Education, Wiley, McGraw-Hill, Simon
and Schuster. Roughly half of my books are published by Pearson or Wiley, so I won’t be reaping the benefits of Google
Print for Libraries anytime soon. And I do think the project would be benficial for everyone involved; the AAP and
Authors Guild are suing over copyright principle.
That’s the problem—Google is ignoring the letter of the law (from the publishers’ viewpoint) and concentrating on
perceived value. Google is also putting its eggs in the Fair Use basket; Fair Use is a hard-to-define aspect of
copyright law that is decided on a case-by-case basis. Google’s stand here is that since it will display only excerpts
of its scanned material, it should be allowed to make whole copies of books without obtaining permission. Google is
hoping for a Fair Use ruling that will give it statutory freedom to scan whole libraries.
AAP president Pat Schroeder acknowledges possible
benefits of Google Print, but is quoted saying, ”Google Print Library could help many authors get more exposure and
maybe even sell more books, authors and publishers should not be asked to waive their long-held rights so that Google
can profit from this venture.”
AAP set up a strong foundation for this lawsuit by proposing a copyright-friendly jsolution to Google, which
was declined. Schroeder: ”As a way of accomplishing the legal use of copyrighted works in the Print Library Project,
AAP proposed to Google that they utilize the well-known ISBN numbering system to identify works under copyright and
secure permission from publishers and authors to scan these works. Since the inception of the ISBN system in 1967, a
unique ISBN number has been placed on every book, identifying each book and linking it to a specific publisher. Google
flatly rejected this reasonable proposal.”
Defending Google Print for Libraries, CEO Eric Schmidt wrote a Wall Street Journal editorial in which he
said, in part, ”This policy is entirely in keeping with our main Web search engine. In order to guide users to the
information they’re looking for, we copy and index all the Web sites we find. If we didn’t, a useful search engine
would be impossible, and the same dynamic applies to the Google Print Library Project.” This is dangerous ground
upon which to tread, and Google is staking a lot in this tactic. Observers have noted for years that Google’s Web index
and caching machine arguably violate U.S. copyright. By tying Google Web search with Google Print policies, Schmidt is
essentially saying, “If the courts rule against Google Print for Libraries, then our search engine is likewise an
infringing business.”
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