Yahoo, Microsoft, and Amazon.com will have to tell Google about their book scanning activities, including titles of works they have scanned, as Google works to fend off litigation from publishers and authors over the Google Book Search program.
Google's position has been that, by exposing a small portion of a book a searcher may have never seen before in response to a query, they can make people aware of those previously unknown works and spur interest in purchasing them. The publishers and authors have long complained that Google's opt-out model should be replaced with an opt-in system, where Google asks for permission before scanning titles. Google argued that they can scan books in the context of existing law, and that the process of tracking down every single rightsholder would be too onerous an undertaking. Google Book Search does not present the entire text of a book under copyright unless permitted to do so. Yahoo and Microsoft, with the Open Content Alliance, have taken a softer approach by working with publishers, while Amazon had done the same thing with its Search Inside program and book page previews. Tag: Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Yahoo! My Web | Furl Bookmark Murdok: David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.Google Subpoenas Others On Book Search
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