Barbara Quint, Google Library Project Hit by Copyright Challenge from University Presses, Information Today NewsBreaks, May 31, 2005. Excerpt: 'Some might say it had to happen. Extending the Google Print program to the digitization of five of the world's largest university research libraries, including copyrighted as well as non-copyrighted material, would inevitably seem to lead to a challenge of copyright violation. Oddly enough, the challenge has come from the less commercial publishers --the nonprofit university presses....Together, AAUP members publish approximately 750 academic journals and 11,000 books per year and depend upon research libraries for their revenue. The AAUP is not the only possible combatant. Reports circulate that other publishers, e.g., John Wiley & Sons and Random House, have also protested to Google. The Publishers Association in the U.K. opened inquiries earlier this year. The Association of American Publishers (AAP), which initially seemed to approve the Google project, is expected to have the issue on the agenda for its board meeting in early June....Givler told me that publishers were very enthusiastic when first approached by Google as early as spring 2004 about the new Google Print program. However, when they heard about the expansion of the program through the digitization of library collections, members felt that Google had "bitten off what they would find difficult to chew."...He admitted the concept of Google Print was still "enormously seductive," especially for university presses with their usual small audiences, because it will enable these presses to reach "people who didn't know about the existence of a book they would want to read." Bottom line --Givler doesn't have immediate plans to take legal action. What he really wants is for Google to come to the table and negotiate. The letter was sent to "try to pressure them to talk, but so far, they haven't."...Kay Murray, general counsel for The Authors Guild...said that standard boilerplate language in the contracts between book publishers and their authors include terms for copyrights to revert to authors when the publisher allows the book to go out of print....Dealing with authors directly could prove more daunting for Google than dealing with publishers....[T]he prospect of seeing authors reap the harvest for any future Google monetization opportunities might bring publishers into Google Print fast. One legal advisor mused that publishers sending their material to Google Print for digitization would have taken "an affirmative act" to bring books back into "print" or, in this case, "digital print."'
Posted by
Peter Suber at 5/31/2005 09:57:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
