The Internet search engine Google is facing a class action lawsuit filed by the Authors Guild in response to Google's attempt to scan collections of books from several university libraries into its database.
According to the Authors Guild, Google began to work with the libraries of Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan and the University of Oxford, as well as the New York Public Library, in Dec. of 2004 to digitize their books and incorporate them into online searches.
The Authors Guild claimed this week that because many of these books are copyrighted, Google is committing "massive copyright infringement" by making unauthorized copies.
"Google has undertaken to digitize the entire texts of copyrighted works lots and lots of them," said Authors Guild Executive Director Paul Aiken. "That is not something you can do without the permission of the copyright holder."
Madelyn Wessel, special advisor to the University librarian and liaison to the general counsel for the Library System, said Google's contested project has one distinct difference that makes copyright infringement a problem, and that is that Google intends to scan or digitize all of the books in their entirety rather than just copying a portion.
Wessel said Google claims to have developed a program that is in compliance with copyright laws because the entire text will be copied, but if the work is still under copyright protection, the entire text will be not be made available to the public. The Authors Guild, however, holds that this still violates the rights of the copyright holder.
Negotiations between publishers and Google have begun, Aiken said, but so far a compromise has not been made. Google offered to temporarily halt the scanning of copyrighted materials and give authors until Nov. 1 to request not to have their works copied, Aiken said. He added, however, that this is not an acceptable compromise.
"It is putting the burden on the author to get in touch with Google and say 'Don't infringe my copyright,'" Aiken said. "These are real property rights, and one doesn't have to go around reminding your neighbors not to break into your house."
At the University, Bradley Daigle, associate director for the Special Collections Digital Services, said some works are digitized for preservation purposes and also to make the works available to a wider audience.Many of the works the University deals with are in the public domain, meaning they are no longer under copyright protection, so infringement is not an issue, Daigle said. He added that when a student or professor requests to use copyrighted material for educational purposes, there are parameters that must be taken into consideration.
Still, the University never copies entire copyrighted works to disseminate through the Web, Wessel said.
The protection provided by copyrights has many gray areas, Wessel said, and many of the exceptions to copyright protection stem from the "Fair Use" principle.
"Fair Use is an exception that is intended to preserve the ability of schools and researchers and students to still freely exchange information as part of a learning process and to have access to reasonable amounts of information without purchasing an entire text every time some portion of the text is needed," Wessel said.
Wessel emphasized that the Fair Use principle is not a "blank check" even though it does allow more flexibility in using works for educational purposes.
"Google's project may turn out to be consistent with copyright law, a very interesting set of questions indeed," Wessel said. "But their project is, in any event, very different than what goes on at colleges and universities to support research and teaching under Fair Use principles."
Read More
U.Va. loses over $60 million in federal research cuts
By Bertie Azqueta | YesterdayThe impacted grants include three from the NIH, seven from the NEH, one from the United States Agency for International Development and four from the State Department.
Department of Education reverses course, awards Federal Executive Institute to U.Va.
By Ford McCracken | 4 days agoThe ED had previously awarded the institute to Charlottesville City Schools.
Students reflect on the life and legacy of Pope Francis
By Bertie Azqueta | 5 days agoAt the University, students shared a range of perspectives on his legacy of reform, inclusivity and his impact on the global Catholic community.
