Quote:
Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
You are likely correct, but without actual legislation there is no guarantee that anyone else will get the same terms.
A few possibilities:
1) Google has a massive head start over potential competitors, both in terms of scans and, if the settlement is approved, legal hurdles.
2) There aren't many non-government competitors with the resources and inclination to take on a similar project.
3) Unless or until someone else strikes a similar settlement, only Google will have the right to basically publish and distribute an ebook of out-of-print materials without having to get the author's explicit permission. E.g. Barnes & Noble would be required to hunt down an author, get permission, and then make the ebook; Google can just sell their existing scan.
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1. That's (MS's) own fault. (and anyone else's. Anyway, this applies to any industry that requires an initial investment. Why is it relevant?) There are no hurdles apart from that investment, which others are unwilling to make. I don't see the principle at work behind this argument.
2. Indeed. And considering we're talking about the USA, people will likely be wary to let the government do this (alternatively, one could legislate his way to equal access for all, when it turns out Google is unreasonable).
3. Right now, nothing is being done with OOP orphan works, specifically because the author is missing. How is it a turn for the worse? The point being that most of these OOP works are being ignored anyway, so how likely is it that this will really matter, statistically speaking? Sure, it might frustrate them in 1-2 cases, but really, who cares?
Lots of industries are anti-competitive; why would you want the prevention of a formation of a potentially competition-less, niche industry like OOP/orphan work printing because
it will be hard for the competition to gain a foothold
without investing themselves? Again, there is no reason to suspect a court will grant Google their rights, and then use that as an anti-precedent to subsequently forbid all others from doing the same; in fact, it's fairly unlikely this will happen.
Disclaimer: I'm not at all saying I trust google, but I don't really see what the disadvantage is. If you really want access to a book, you can always see where Google scanned its copy, and request that via ILL (or whatever).