A University Press Leader Has Questions for Google

Forum: Join an online discussion about the impact on publishing and scholarship of Google's plans to scan millions of books and make the full texts part of its popular search index. Printer friendly E-mail article Subscribe Order reprints

Some publishing groups have raised questions about whether Google has the right, under copyright law, to make digital copies of every book in a college's library. Among those groups is the Association of American University Presses, whose lawyers sent a letter to Google officials in May raising concerns and asking the company for more information about the project. Peter Givler, executive director of the association, says that he supports the idea of building a large digital library, but that the rights of authors and publishers must be protected.

Q. Do you think Google's library project is operating within the bounds of copyright law?

A. Well, I think that's a huge question. As I understand [Google officials], what they are saying is they have what they believe is a valid fair-use claim to make digital copies of all the copyrighted works that are in the collections of the libraries. And that is an absolutely gigantic claim. I mean, that just is orders of magnitude beyond any fair-use argument I have ever heard. ... It may be a valid claim or it may not, ultimately. Ultimately, that may be up to a court to decide -- and that's not a threat of a lawsuit. I have no knowledge of one.

Q. So you believe that just making a digital copy of the books could be a violation of copyright, even if Google does not offer the full text online?

A. Absolutely. Copyright means the right to make copies, period. Copyright law can seem pretty byzantine and technical and elaborate and complicated, but at its simplest, that's what it is. It's the right to make copies. ...

Google is a very successful company growing very rapidly. What happens if the environment changes? ... What if they decide that they want to offer this on a pay-per-view basis? Or what if Google is bought by somebody else? What happens if publishers acknowledge that Google has a fair-use claim here and can go ahead and do this? Then what about Microsoft? What about AltaVista? What about Ask Jeeves? What about everybody who invents a search engine? Is it just fair game to come in and say, Well, copyright doesn't apply here -- we've got a valid fair-use claim because Google did it?

Q. If your group has these questions, why not raise them formally or challenge the project?

A. We're not ruling it out. Our official position here is that we would like to have a really serious conversation with Google about these concerns. That's really it -- we just want them to come to the table and talk to us, instead of just saying that they have a right to do this and going ahead with it and not answering questions. We'd just like to sit down and talk and see where we go.