Silly me … I checked the Google press release area but not the company’s sporadic blog for a corporate response to the Authors Guild lawsuit filed yesterday in federal court. Susan Wojcicki, VP-product management, lays out the company’s rationale:
– “Let’s be clear: Google doesn’t show even a single page to users who find copyrighted books through this program (unless the copyright holder gives us permission to show more). … Google respects copyright. The use we make of all the books we scan through the Library Project is fully consistent with both the fair use doctrine under U.S. copyright law and the principles underlying copyright law itself, which allow everything from parodies to excerpts in book reviews.”
She goes on to compare Google Print to an electronic card catalog that “indexes book content to help users find, and perhaps buy, books.” John Battelle says the post “is damn refreshing. Google makes its case clearly, and the writing seems to be driven by conviction and passion.”
It’s also a way for Google to get out an unfiltered message, going directly to its users — those who can find the blog — on something controversial.
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