Quote:
Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer
As far the nature of Google's use, they are not selling the books in most cases. In most cases the books are out of print, but if they are available commercially Google is providing links to sites like Amazon.
|
The purpose is commercial though, Google aren't doing this for the good of humanity, but for their own commercial gain. In the same way that MegaUpload/TPB/etc... didn't make money directly from enabling infringement, but did make money from the advertising revenue driven by allowing the infringement.
Quote:
|
As far as reducing the value of ebooks, that is not the case. Google is not making books available for free (unless they are in the public domain or Google has permission). What they are doing is providing search capabilities for books, and an ability to buy the book if the book is purchasable. So this actually enhances the value of ebooks because it makes them easier to find.
|
That is a reasonable point.
Although I'm pretty certain their end goal is to sell copies of books that are otherwise not available.