Re: [InetBib] Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft klagt gegen Google

["Faber/Sprang" <christian.sprang@xxxxxx>]

Lieber Herr Steinhauer,

selbstverständlich haben die Autoren der streitgegenständlichen Bücher der
Wissenschaftlichen Buchgesellschaft die online-Rechte übertragen, so wie die
meisten Verlage sich diese Rechte bei ihren wichtigsten Backlist-Titeln
haben nachübertragen lassen. Dass sich ein Unternehmen keiner Rechte
berühmen kann, die es nicht hat, versteht sich - zumindest für Verlage,
offensichtlich aber nicht für Google - von selbst.

Zum Thema "Google Buchsuche (Bibliotheksprogramm)" nachfolgend noch ein
aktueller Leserbrief aus den USA.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Christian Sprang


To the Editor:
Apparently, The New York Times Magazine was so taken with Google's
"coolness" that they surrendered the cover story of the May 14 issue to
allow Wired magazine guru Kevin Kelly to wax rhapsodic on the  wonderful
world that will emerge when Google converts all of our books into "a single
liquid fabric of interconnected words and ideas."  

That the May 14 cover story was a Google infomercial is pretty apparent. The
fact that Google is mentioned no fewer than 53 times is a bit of a
giveaway.  Clearly The New York Times Magazine agrees with Kelly that we
should surrender all of our books to Google and trust them to "do no evil."
Forgive us if we're less than enthusiastic!! There is no question that
Google has created an amazing search engine.  There is also no question that
without exciting, interesting, well-researched and well-written information,
Google would have nothing to search.  Google's is not the only search engine
in the world, just the outlier trying the bully a change in the law just for
them because they are big, cool, and Google.  We do well to remember that
Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon and  others in the Open Content Alliance, are also
in the business of connecting words and ideas--the difference is that they
honor creators by first obtaining permission to copy works under copyright.
(The problem of "orphan" copyrighted works whose owners can't be identified
or located  is currently being looked at by Congress where responsive
legislation is being drafted--surprising that Mr. Kelly seems to know
nothing about it-but I'll leave that to another time).

With a feeling of futility, I hesitated 48 hours before writing this. No
one at the Association of American Publishers or the Authors Guild was
contacted or quoted in the piece.  Our two lawsuits challenging Google's
right to take millions of our books, make complete digital copies and store
them on their computers to promote their search engine and generate ad
revenues-- were dismissed as the last hurrahs of an ancient order of
mastodons who refuse to stand aside as the Google technological juggernaut
rolls on! Clearly, anything I say on behalf of publishers and authors will
be dismissed as whining by the Times.  The Times is not the only source of 
the hyperbolic rhetoric celebrating Google that we've been showered with. 
Other mainstream media have climbed aboard the "cool train."   Although
Google co-founder Sergey Brin once said that the "perfect search engine
would be like the mind of God," your readers need to be reminded that Google
is a  $90 billion profit-making,  publicly-held corporation with the
interests of stockholders and partners to serve. It has a business plan that
appropriates creators' works without their permission. Their size, power,
and creative vision cannot be used to justify the abrogation of rights and
the seizure of  property that belong to others,  even if, as they maintain,
they're doing it "for our own good."

Pat Schroeder
President & CEO
Association of American Publishers





> --- Ursprüngliche Nachricht ---
> Von: Eric Steinhauer <eric.steinhauer@xxxxxxxxx>
> An: Internet in Bibliotheken <inetbib@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Betreff: Re: [InetBib] Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft klagt gegen
> Google
> Datum: Thu, 18 May 2006 13:29:21 +0200 (CEST)
>
> Lieber Herr Graf,
> vielen Dank für den Hinweis.
>
> Der beim Börsenverein zugängliche Schriftsatz ist recht interessant.
>
> Allerdings sollte sich der Börsenverein ein wenig in Zurückhaltung üben.
> Bei der Digitalisierung älterer Zeitschriften im Rahmen diverser, 
> uns allen bekannter Projekte, ist auch der Börsenverein als Partner
> beteiligt.
>
> Dabei ist für vor 1995 erschienene Artikel bei derzeitiger Rechtslage
> davon auszugehen, 
> daß weder die an dem Projekt beteiligten Bibliotheken, noch die Verlage,
> noch der Börsenverein 
> über entsprechende Nutzungsrechte verfügen.
>
> Wer im Glashaus sitzt ....
>
> Eric Steinhauer

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