Editorial: Big Bucks for Fair Use
A new balance of power in the copyright arena
John N. Berry III, Editor-in-Chief -- Library Journal, 10/15/2005
“Google is about to invest nearly $100 million in making access to information easier for people,” Andrew Albanese, the editor of LJ’s, Academic Library Newswire observed. We were discussing, of course, the impact of Google Print for Libraries, the project to digitize the collections of several of the nation’s largest research libraries. It is a surprising realignment of forces when a for-profit corporation with big bucks invests in ways to improve access to information, instead of the usual use of resources to hire more lawyers, litigators, and lobbyists to protect the firm’s “intellectual property” from easy, free access by scholars, researchers, and the public.
Dozens of corporations invest in solutions, systems, and software to get their own content to an information-hungry world, but Google plans to digitize content both in the public domain and in copyright held by others. Google’s arch competitor, Yahoo, has announced a similar program to digitize millions of library books, but it will stick to public domain titles.
Few investments are as dramatic, as quickly and widely opposed, or as likely to bring major change to the copyright arena as the Google initiative.
To stop the project, plaintiffs Herbert Mitgang, a former New York Times editorial writer and author; children’s book author Betty Miles; and former Poet Laureate (1973-74) Daniel Hoffman were joined by the Authors Guild of America to bring a lawsuit against Google.Google had already voluntarily agreed to allow copyright holders to opt out of the scanning and to stop scanning works in copyright until November 1 to give publishers time to exclude books from the project.
James Hilton, Associate Provost of Academic Information and Technology Affairs and interim University Librarian at the University of Michigan, one of the Google Print participants, was sorry to see litigation already, but in an interview with Albanese he said, “We think the debate is an important one.” Hilton sees digitizing print collections as vital to the future of research and scholarship, and said Michigan would have done it on its own if the Google project hadn’t come along. “The odds of printed material being seen as relevant for future generations go way down,” he said, if it isn’t available in digital formats. He believes that the Google library plan will help publishers in the long run. [See LJ talks to.]
The shocker came from Google’s Susan Wojcicki, who said the program was consistent with the fair use provisions of the copyright law. In other words, a private corporation is enlisted to join the librarians in their lonely battle to expand the fair use concept! That is what is new and different. No one expected to see a company as wealthy and strong as Google putting money behind less restrictive copyright law and a broader application of the fair use clause.
The move brings a new balance to the information arena, and it brings the power of a segment of the private sector into an alliance with educators and librarians to free up access to information, no matter whether it is in copyright or not.
With a more even balance of power in the ongoing copyright debate, resolution is more likely, and a better compromise can be struck. In truth, the information arena has just been transformed.
No one is so naïve as to think the remaining journey to resolution in copyright will be easy. We are more optimistic now, however, that a solution that meets the most urgent needs of all sides can be negotiated.
