Google Library Project: Following the Copyright Debate

4th Reading Assignment:

Kaushik, Anant, and Nishant Prakash.. "Google Library Project: Following the Copyright Debate." ICFAI Journal of Intellectual Property Rights 8.1 (Feb. 2009): 74-80. Academic Source Complete.
EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 21 July 2009 http://search.ebscohost.com
/login.aspx?direct=true&db=s8h&AN=36350168&loginpage=Login.asp&site=ehostlive&scope=si te.

Abstract:

The Google Library Project is an effort by Google to scan and make the collection of several major libraries namely Harvard, Standford, Oxford, Michigan, and the New York Public Library searchable in the Internet. Bibliographic information will be available together with “snippets” which are few lines of the book in conjunction with the search query. Full-text of books out of copyright will also be available for free download. Unfortunately, due to the confidential nature of this project, Google was slapped with two copyright lawsuits. This article presents the background of the Project and checks the events that lead to the lawsuits filed against Google. The “fair use” doctrine along with the four non-exclusive factors is also discussed. This doctrine was the defense use by Google to counteract the copyright infringement claim against them. The Project’s Opt-Out Approach was also explained and some suggestions were given to highlight the importance of authors who are the main complainants of the project. Finally, it presents conclusion which directs on suggestions to further enhance the current copyright legislation.

Three things I learned:

1. I was able to be familiarized with the “fair use” doctrine and the four non-exclusive factors. Also through this article, I was able to learn additional information about the Copyright Law.

2. That the Google Library Project is an ambitious yet a very useful project. If ever this project pushes through I think it can be considered as a “Universal OPAC”.

3. Also discussed in the article are various cases on copyright infringement which is very similar to the case against Google. It is interesting to know about this cases and how they use the “fair use” doctrine as a defense against possible copyright infringement.

Reflections:

I believe that Google have clean intentions in creating this library project. Although there is no doubt that there would be financial gains through advertisements and sponsorships I think at the end of the day, of all this will be overshadowed by the help that this project will give to its potential users. In my opinion, this project should have not been filed with two lawsuits if Google did not use the Opt-Out approach. According to this approach, copyright holders included in the project shall notify Google if they do not want their work to be included in the project. We should remember how important royalties are to writers of copyrighted materials. By virtue of doing this type of approach as well as other vital reasons certainly legal actions would be filed.
Just an update, as of now the Google Library Project is still in its beta stage. Google is currently awaiting the verdict of the legislators on the cases filed against them.