Download initiative does not include copyrighted works
The traditional bookshop now found itself confronted with a new cutthroat competitor, as Google launched a service that allows users to download and print classic novels and other books in the public domain for free.
Google Inc., the most-used Internet search engine, announced plans to begin letting consumers download and print free of charge classic novels and many other, more obscure books that are in the public domain…
The search engine’s Book Search service will carry titles such as Sir Isaac Newton’s “Principia” and Dante’s “Inferno,” and Aesop’s Fables, which users will be able to search for online, download in Adobe Systems Inc.’s Acrobat PDF formats file and take a print out; Mountain View, California- based Google said in an e-mailed statement.
Google earlier this month added the University of California to the list of libraries from which it is scanning books. For books protected by copyright, Google will display bibliographic information and small snippets of text. Those books can not be downloaded.
The Books Library Project, first announced in December 2004, Google’s book scanning program initially included works from Harvard University, Stanford University, University of Michigan, University of Oxford and the New York Public Library. Google is also running a pilot project with the US Library of Congress.
It is the first time Google has given readers the chance to print out their own copies of books. The company will make money by showing keyword-triggered text ads on search-results pages – similar to those on google.com.
Readers can find the books by choosing the "Full View Books" option on the Google Book Search home page before they activate their search. Once they have chosen a book from the results page, a download button is clearly visible on the top-right-hand corner of the page.
The PDFs are offered only for those books that fall into the public domain and are intended for personal use. "We use very conservative rules to comply with international copyright laws," Google spokeswoman Megan Lamb said.
A book’s availability depends on the country from which the user is accessing the site. Google blocks users from works that are not yet in the public domain for their country, Lamb said.
The download initiative does not include any books under copyright. For these titles, Book Search only displays basic bibliographic information and, in many cases, small snippets of text surrounding a search term, unless it has permission from the publisher to show more. The company’s display of snippets has riled some publishers, but Google has argued the small bites of text constitute fair use.
A carefully worded note on usage from Google, included as the first page of each downloaded PDF file, explains what "public domain" means and how it can vary by country. Google also notes that users are responsible for following their own country’s copyright laws.
“Make noncommercial use of the file. Refrain from automated querying. Maintain attribution. Keep it legal,” Google lists as usage guidelines.
The bottom-right corner of every PDF book page contains a "Digitized by Google" watermark.
While Google Book Search limits the amount of copyright text a person can view in one session, Google has been criticized for the project, which entails scanning entire works, many protected by copyright, in order to make them searchable online. Microsoft began a similar project but has offered an opt-in method for publishers rather than an opt-out one.
Moves to make books available online have drawn anger from publishing groups, including the Association of American Publishers, which last year took legal action against Google for allegedly breaching copyright laws.
Google has countered by saying it only makes available short passages of copyrighted works, which constitutes "fair use".
Traditional booksellers, already facing fierce competition from online rivals such as Amazon.com, said the Google service was a threat, but added people would remain attracted to traditionally bound books.
“Pressure has been piling up, from the internet, on booksellers for some time,” Jeff Towns of Dylans Book Store, an independent bookshop, said.
"But how many pages would you have to print out to get a copy of a book from the web and what will it look like? This could well be one more nail in the coffin for booksellers, but we will hope that the pendulum will swing the other way – towards traditional books – as well."
The Book Search service is part of Google’s mission to make the entire world’s information available online – an endeavor the company has said could take 300 years. It will be run in parallel with Google’s plan to place texts from the world’s great libraries on the internet.