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Originally Posted by Daithi
It is also my understanding that Google's position was that they were within "fair use" limitations of the copyright law.
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Yes, that was their position. The copyright holders disagreed.
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Originally Posted by Daithi
Scanning all those books and placing "portions" on the web did not hurt the rights holders.
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The rights holders disagreed, and won a substantial settlement.
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Originally Posted by Daithi
In fact, it helped them by letting the public know that material in which they might be interested existed.
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The authors and publishers decide how to distribute their works. That's what "copyright" means.
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Originally Posted by Daithi
Personally, I like the compromise Google and the rightsholders agreed up. If the book is still in print then they use an "opt in" stategy. If the book is out of print then they use an "opt out" strategy.
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It wasn't a compromise. It was a legal settlement brought about by lawsuits due to Google's massive copyright infringement.
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Originally Posted by Daithi
Even better would be to revise the copyright law.
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Agreed. Speak to your legislator.