Google Me!
October 27, 2005
Here is a good op ed piece from the WSJ about the authors vs. Google controversy.
The plaintiffs argue that Google’s actions infringe copyright because it is essentially copying books when it scans them without paying copyright holders. Yet scanning itself creates no revenue for Google and doesn’t deprive copyright holders of income. It is only when a reader purchases a book that Google derives revenue, and in that situation it has announced plans to pay the copyright holder a royalty. Thus, its scanning ought to be protected by the “fair use” doctrine.
This argument is very sound and gets to the original rationale for copyrights. It will be interesting to see how these suits get resolved.
Dave, Google fan.
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