COPYCENSE

“Google sees its mission as organizing the world’s information. That grand statement, however, contains one latent ambiguity that could shipwreck its controversial Book Library Project. Just who is “the world” anyway?

“The latent ambiguity in its mission statement has led Google to adopt two inconsistent strategies for its BLP. First, Google says it will respect the right of each copyright owner to opt out of its Book Project. Next, Google claims that the limited number of snippets (three) that it will display in response to any request for information counts as a fair use under copyright law. These two approaches are both wrong and inconsistent.”

Richard Epstein. Google in Treacherous Waters. FT.com. Feb. 6, 2006.

See also:

Eric J. Lyman. The New Digital Boom. ISN. Feb. 6, 2006.

John Battelle’s Searchblog. University of Michigan President Defends Google Book Search. Feb. 6, 2006.

Mary Sue Coleman. Google, the Khmer Rouge and the Public Good (Address to the Professional/Scholarly Publishing Division of the Association of American Publishers). (.pdf, 180 KB) Feb. 6, 2006. (Editor’s Note: Mary Sue Coleman is the president of the University of Michigan, which controls one of the five libraries involved in the Google Book Search digitization project.)

Elinor Mills. Would Thomas Jefferson Have Googled? News.com. Feb. 6, 2006.

Updates:

Miriam A. Drake. University of Michigan President Distresses Scholarly Publishers. Information Today Newsbreaks. Feb. 13, 2006.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.