Authors Guild Sues Google Over Print Program

heavy snowfall writes to tell us that The Authors Guild has filed a class action lawsuit against Google. The lawsuit claims that Google's scanning and digitizing of library books as a part of the Google Print Project constitutes "massive copyright infringement". In addition to the lawsuit The Authors Guild has also issued a press release to explain its actions.

Comments

Don't know about the US

[MountainMan101]

but here in Oxford I thought google was only scanning really old stuff that is too fragile to be read. The Bod (our library) has some very old stuff.

And before anyone from the US replies, old in Oxford means pre 1600 ie before anyone went to your country from Europe and killed the natives.

The digital generation

[Manip]

What happens when these books degrade and nothing is left but a memory of what they were?

Welcome to the digital generation people of the authors guild. This is a big battle between old value people and the new digital wave that google is riding.

I am not saying that it is google's responsibility to be the sole holder of books and other information, that is why MSN, Yahoo and other organisations should start a similar program. Or even the government to archive part of our society for future generations.

I found it very revealing that in their press release they say that google is uploading "Public Domain Works" -- and then goes on to say that this is wrong and is against copyright law? Maybe it is just badly written (>sniggle) but they should be careful with their words; a public domain piece of text is, by definition something anyone can use.

Re:Copyrighted books

[Itchy Rich]

IANAL, but do the libraries have the right to transfer the copyright to another entity ?

The Libraries don't have the copyright themselves, so they couldn't transfer it to someone else. The libraries have licence from the actual copyright owners to have the book on their shelves, but other rights are reserved.

Re:cnet and google

[Jeremy Erwin]

Google is thinking like a search engine company. Every day, it copies the material of millions of copyrighted web pages into its servers and uses that material to respond to search queries. generally, the web is grateful for this service, though the jealous type can used robots.txt to reassert his or her exclusive rights. Similarly, the distributers of dead trees can opt out of the program...

Re:Copyrighted books

[Itchy Rich]

No, the libraries have printed copies of the books, which they own. There's no "license" held by the library...

Please re-read my post. I didn't say the libraries had a licence, I said they had licence.. it means they have permission.

... and the library doesn't gain the copyright because they own a copy of the book.

That's what I just said. Thanks for your time.

Re:Sharing the profits (Re:Before everybody...)

[budgenator]

So sayth Google

Sign up for the Google Print publisher program to attract new readers and boost book sales, earn new revenue from Google contextual ads, and interact more closely with your customers through direct 'Buy this Book' links back to your website.
Just send us a list of your books
Once you sign up for a Google Print publisher account, just send us a list of the books that you want to be included in the program. Then you can either send us the books, upload them as PDF files, or we'll add them to your account when we scan them at a library. Learn more about the Google Print Library Project.
When someone enters search terms that are relevant to the words and phrases in your book, the book appears highlighted on the search results. Clicking on one of your titles in the Google search results will lead users to the page from the book on which the search terms appear. For an example, see our screenshots.

further into the google says

When a user views one of your book's scanned pages, our technology "reads" that page and adds text ads for related products and services. And when people click on these ads, Google pays you.

Contextual ads complement your book and can earn you more money.

So basicaly google is

• scanning the book for free
• inserting them into the search base for free
• giving them a link to the publisher ecomerce site for free
• if I read an excerp from their book and click a competitor's ad on the excerp page, they get a commission on the competitors ad!for free

The bottom line is this is basicaly a whole prepackaged bussiness plan preimplimented for you! These publishers and authors would complain if they were hung with a new rope. The people using adsense should be pissed that publishers are being treated so much better than they are.

Re:Before everybody has a knee-jerk reaction ...

[Guysmiley777]

Read before speaking. I can (if I want) go to a library and read a book from cover to cover. Oh noes!!1!1eleventy1! Libraries should be burned down and librarians should all be shot!!!!! God damned thieves!!!!!

An excerpt from the tool:
Why can't I read the entire book? We respect copyright law and the tremendous creative effort authors put into their work. So you'll only be able to see a limited portion - in some cases only a few sentences - of books that we treat as under copyright. If the book is not under copyright, then you can browse the entire book. In general, Google Print aims to help you discover books, not read them from start to finish. It's like going to a bookstore and browsing - only with a Google twist.

Google's public response

[KFury]

There's a compelling response to the lawsuit posted on the official Google Weblog.