Open Access NewsNews from the open access movement Jump to navigation |
|||
Harvard doesn't like the Google settlement Laura G. Mirviss, Harvard-Google Online Book Deal at Risk, Harvard Crimson, October 30, 2008. Excerpt:
Comment. This is not a comment so much as a careful paraphrase, if only for myself, to get clear on what happened. Harvard is not refusing to take part in the settlement. It's not a party to the lawsuit and couldn't be a party to the settlement. Nor is it terminating its agreement to let Google scan books from the Harvard library. Harvard never allowed Google to scan copyrighted books from its library, as (say) Michigan did. Instead it limited Google-scanning to public-domain books. Today it announces that it will continue to limit Google to public-domain books. Google just arranged for publishers to drop their objections to the scanning of copyrighted books, provided the scans meet certain terms, and expected that libraries would leap to participate. But Harvard doesn't like the terms, either for unpaid access and use or for paid access. Apparently Harvard is also saying, like many others, that Google could have prevailed on its original fair-use claim and should have litigated it to the end. |