COPYCENSE

In the March edition of E-Content, Walt Crawford discusses the open access possibilities and economies of scale that could result from a loose collaboration between Google’s Book Search project, the Open Content Alliance, and the Creative Commons license scheme.

What do you get when you combine a four-year-old licensing system and two possibly complementary projects to digitize substantial quantities of print information? With luck, a substantial ecommons: millions of digital items that can be used directly and as the basis for derivative works without infringing copyright. These projects should also result in full-text indexing for millions more items that won’t be freely available online but can be acquired through libraries and booksellers.

Crawford, who is a senior analyst at RLG and the namesake author of Cites & Insights: Crawford at Large, continues

Pulling these threads together, OCA encourages use of Creative Commons licenses whenever that makes sense. That makes it more likely that a good deal of copyright material will be available under appropriate license, since Creative Commons licenses offer carefully drawn ways to “give away” some copyright control without losing copyright. Google isn’t part of this combination yet, but it wouldn’t take much to make the public domain works part of the greater whole.

Conceptually, Crawford’s observations make sense. But I think Crawford’s view of the potential inherent in such a combination is unlikely to happen. Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft are competing publicly-held corporations that ultimately are looking to exploit the next great market. To be fair, I’m sure each of these companies has some altruistic motive for being involved in their respective projects, but their ultimate goal is to be in the game if and when the content market shifts significantly enough for them to be major players in it. And once they find the game, each wants to write its rules.

In my view, the involvement of Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft the digitization game amounts to a scouting session wherein each company will determine just how involved they will get in the content market beyond search. The possibilities — research database, bookseller, music seller, or even publisher — are endless. It’s not about the commons; it’s about the cash.

Walt Crawford. Building the Econtent Commons. EContent. March 2006.

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

In a lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission, a federal judge has ordered that Google divulge the entire contents of a Gmail account, including deleted e-mail messages. The subpoena, which is unrelated to the Department of Justice’s own subpoena to Google for search terms and excerpts from its search database, is the second time in a month that the search giant has had a court demand records from its vast database.

As BusinessWeek Online‘s David Holzman noted in an article we linked to last week, one of Google’s biggest future legal and business challenges will be the ability to keep its database content private and out of the hands of competitors and third parties, including government and law enforcement agencies. Part of the competitive advantage Google enjoys is buoyed by public trust. This trust will erode quickly if Google cannot find a way to keep its data private.

Declan McCullagh. Police Blotter: Judge Orders Gmail Disclosure. News.com. March 17, 2006.

See also:

CopyCense. Google Faces Increased Legal Challenges. March 16, 2006.

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

“A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit accusing Google Inc. of wrongful conduct, including copyright infringement and defamation, providing the latest court opinion to weigh in on the contentious area of search engines and copyright.

“Some legal experts said the ruling, issued last week in a case brought by Internet publisher Gordon Roy Parker in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, could influence judges in other cases pending against Google, potentially bolstering the Internet company’s legal defenses. Those cases include high-profile suits brought last year by writers and publishers and by the Agence France-Presse news agency alleging that Google’s services violate copyright.

“Mr. Parker’s suit centered on 11 claims against Google, including that Google’s archiving of copyright material he posted on the Usenet community of electronic bulletin boards violated copyright laws. Mr. Parker also alleged that Google’s inclusion of excerpts from his site in its search results infringed copyright.”

Kevin J. Delaney. Google Wins Copyright Battle. WSJ.com. March 17, 2006.

See also:

U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Penna. Gordon Roy Parker v. Google: Memorandum & Order. (.pdf) March 10, 2006.

The Patry Copyright Blog. Parker v. Google. March 17, 2006.

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

“Facing increasing congressional scrutiny, Google Inc. has hired a lobbying firm that includes the son of U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.

“The Mountain View Internet giant hired Joshua Hastert as part of a team of lobbyists from the firm PodestaMattoon to champion its interests in privacy, compensation and China, among other issues, according to documents filed with the U.S. Senate.

“The hiring is another sign that Google is raising its profile in Washington.”

Verne Kopytoff. Google Hires D.C. Lobbyist With a Friend in High Places. SFGate.com. March 16, 2006.

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

Addressing attendees at the Voice on the Net conference at the San Jose Convention Center on Wednesday, Richard Notebaert, CEO of Qwest Communications, also said that he opposes blocking traffic on his company’s network. But for the first time publicly he said he believes that network operators should have the option to charge content providers, such as Google or Amazon, higher rates for providing premium service over the Qwest network.

Speculation over phone companies developing a tiered Internet system that would require content companies to pay more for their access has become a hot-button issue in the tech industry, pitting companies such as Google, Yahoo and Amazon against the big phone companies and equipment makers.

Marguerite Reardon. Qwest CEO Supports Tiered Internet. News.com. March 15, 2006.

See also:

Marguerite Reardon. Debate Heats Up Over Net Neutrality. News.com. March 15, 2006.

Declan McCullagh & Anne Broache. Senator: Net Neutrality May Not Happen. News.com. March 14, 2006.

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

“A federal judge hearing arguments in the Department of Justice’s records fight with Google said Tuesday that he would grant federal prosecutors at least part of their request for excerpts from the search giant’s massive database.

“U.S. District Judge James Ware said he intends to release his decision ‘very quickly,’ and that he might give the Justice Department access to a portion of Google’s index of Web sites, but not to its users’ search terms.

“Ware said he was reluctant to give the Justice Department everything it wanted because of the “perception by the public that this is subject to government scrutiny” when they type search terms into Google.com.”

Declan McCullagh. Judge to Help Feds Against Google. News.com. March 14, 2006.

See also:

David H. Holtzman. Guarding Google’s Data Banks. BusinessWeek Online. March 14, 2006. (“The more successful Google is, the more unwelcome legal attention it will draw. As data continues to flood into Google, the comprehensiveness of its databases makes it a juicier target for government fishing expeditions.”)

Updates:

Anne Broache. Judge: Google Must Give Feds Limited Access to Records. News.com. March 17, 2006.

U.S. District Court, Northern District of California. Alberto R. Gonzales v. Google, Inc.: Order Granting In Part and Denying In Part Motion to Compel Compliance with Subpoena Duces Tecum. (.pdf) March 17, 2006.

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