Publishers Take Issue with Google Print

A group of academic publishers earlier this week sent a six-page letter to Google voicing their opposition to the search giant's plans to catalog books for its Web searches, and said that the project "appears to involve systematic copyright infringement on a massive scale."

Google Print for Libraries will allow users to search through books and periodicals that the company has added to its database. Upon its launch in December, the project had support from several academic libraries -- Harvard, Michigan, and Stanford -- who will allow the company access to digitize its book catalog.

But now some book publishers are getting cold feet and are worried that Google Print may end up hurting them financially.

The group says it agreed to Google Print for Publishers, which allowed the publishers themselves to decide what books would be included in searches, and to opt out if they felt so inclined. However, Google is using Fair Use laws to gain rights to copy the university books for Google Print for Libraries, a move that publishers are not happy with.

"It is built on a fundamental, broad-sweeping violation of the Copyright Act, and this large-scale infringement has the potential for serious financial damage to the members of AAUP," the publishers said.

The group asked for a response by June 20, and enclosed a list of 16 questions for Google to answer. The group made it clear, however, that their intentions were not to stop the Google Print service from being launched altogether.

"Google Print for Libraries has wonderful potential," the letter said. "But that potential can only be realized if the program itself respects the rights of copyright owners and the underlying purpose of copyright law."