Nerve Endings Firing Away

Google Print has finally been officially sued by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) for objection of possible copyright infringement. I guess the much-publicized talks between the two parties did not end on a happy note. The Google Blog has a pretty convincing argument written by Eric Schmidt, CEO obviously in favor of Google Print. They seem to offer enough option to authors to opt out that do not wish to participate in their searchable index of all books ever published. Also, they would be offering only those books that are in public domain and the search in copyrighted books will only “contain basic bibliographic information and, at most, a few lines of text where your search terms appear.” I assume this would make people go out and buy books which otherwise they wouldn’t have. Publishers and most definitely authors would benefit from these “long tail” sales.

I guess, ultimately the issue boils down to trust. Do the publishers and authors trust Google to protect their works? And will it impact any book sales? I am sure, someone who is researching a topic in real-time and wishes instantaneous results would greatly benefit from Google Print. No one is going to go out and buy all books relevant to their search; they might just search the local library and suffice with their meager findings. Google Print might make the case for a rational-comprehensive model of research but in reality, but even if it results in some positive change for research, I am all for it. After all, you shouldn’t be made to buy Shakespeare (for a one-time research paper) if you can get it online, right? The fact whether all this information be privy to only one company might be up for discussion. But someone will have to make the effort to fulfill demand.