This Is My Domain, Well Everyone’s Really: Google and Full Text Public Domain Books
posted by Deven Desai
I remember watching Tarzan as a kid and hearing the declaration “The jungle…this is my domain…and I protect those who come here. For I am Tarzan, lord of the jungle” at the beginning of every episode. Well Google has taken up the public domain cry and in effect has said “This is public domain and we share it with all. For we are Google, lord of information.” Google’s latest cool offering is in Google books. As Google puts it “Starting today, you can go to Google Book Search and download full copies of out-of-copyright books to read at your own pace. You’re free to choose from a diverse collection of public domain titles — from well-known classics to obscure gems.”
The CNET article about the service notes that Google seems to be taking a somewhat conservative approach to the definition of what is in the public domain including screening access based on different country’s laws. Indeed Google cautions users to “please confirm the legality of your actions. The rules of public domain differ from country to country, and we can’t offer guidance on whether any specific use is allowed. Please don’t assume that a book’s appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner anywhere in the world.”
My guess is that the disclaimer is a way to combat some publisher who argues Google is liable for contributory infringement. And to me the country access restriction is an interesting way to try and honor differing countries copyright laws without only using the most restrictive definitions, but I wonder whether Google will use that same technology to honor reduced access to this information for political demands. This point was at issue with China already.
Finally some of you may want to check out Paul Heald’s (Georgia) abstract and summary for his empirical study of public domain and copyrighted best sellers. The study examines the hypothesis that copyright extension is necessary to ensure that copyright holders would “restore older works and further disseminate them to the public.” I heard Paul present the piece at the IPSC conference a few weeks ago and his use of the data to reach his conclusion about whether works are under-exploited is worth a look. I won’t tell you the conclusion because that would be a spoiler.
August 30, 2006 at 2:58 pm
Posted in: Culture, Google & Search Engines, Intellectual Property
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Responses (2)
Frank - August 30, 2006 at 5:49 pm
Thanks for the news, Deven! The only question now is–why wasn’t the government doing this? And why don’t they ask everyone who publishes a book to deposit a digital copy at the library of congress–so even if Google’s library (heavens forbid) eventually becomes pay-only, we will *eventually* have a public resource along these lines.
Matthew L.M. Fletcher - August 31, 2006 at 8:43 am
One problem that legal scholars tend to ignore about the Google “library” is quality control, as in, there isn’t any. The more obscure and old your search, the more likely the scan of a particular document is faded or fuzzy, or cuts off a good inch or so off the margin.
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