Publishers, Google Battle over Books

by Jim Milliot, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 11/18/2005

The debate between publishers and authors and Google and its allies held last night at the New York Public Library was heated, sometimes contentious and mostly civil, and even produced a point on which all sides agreed--that they are miles apart on what they view as fair use in the 21^st century.

Stanford professor Lawrence Lessig argued before a packed house that if the publishers and authors win their lawsuit against Google's Print for Library program (now renamed Google Book Search, see accompanying story) they would gain total control over content that would stifle future innovation and development. The definition of fair use needs to be expanded in the digital age, Lessig argued.

AAP's Allan Adler said if Google's theory of fair use was adopted, it would put Google in control of other people's content that it downloaded onto its own databases. While Google says it will use the scanned book content in a limited way, that could all change, Adler said.

Google v-p of corporate development David Drummond said Google Book Search was designed with fair use in mind and not to harm publishers. If the company ever goes beyond the bounds of fair use, other copyright protections would kick in, Drummond said, to which Adler quickly responded "that's why we went to court."

Lessig added a slight twist to the debate when he said he was worried Google would settle with the authors and publishers thereby creating a system that would precent smaller companies from creating new products. Judging from last night's discussion, a settlement is far away.