Publishers Sue Google Over Plans To Digitize Books
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 19, 2005
Contact: Pat Schroeder
Ph: 202-220-4543
Email: pschroeder@publishers.org
Publishers Sue Google Over Plans To Digitize Books
Google Print Library Violates Publishers and Authors Rights
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today announced the filing of a lawsuit against Google over its plans to digitally copy and distribute copyrighted works without permission of the copyright owners. The lawsuit was filed only after lengthy discussions broke down between AAP and Googles top management regarding the copyright infringement implications of the Google Print Library Project.
The suit, which seeks a declaration by the court that Google commits infringement when it scans entire books covered by copyright and a court order preventing it from doing so without permission of the copyright owner, was filed on behalf of five major publisher members of AAP: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Pearson Education, Penguin Group (USA), Simon & Schuster and John Wiley & Sons.
The suit, which is being coordinated and funded by AAP, has the strong backing of the publishing industry and was filed following an overwhelming vote of support by the 20-member AAP Board which is elected by, and represents, the Associations more than 300 member publishing houses.
The publishing industry is united behind this lawsuit against Google and united in the fight to defend their rights, said AAP President and former Colorado Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder. While authors and publishers know how useful Google's search engine can be and think the Print Library could be an excellent resource, the bottom line is that under its current plan Google is seeking to make millions of dollars by freeloading on the talent and property of authors and publishers."
Announced late last year, the Google Print Library Project involves the scanning and digitization of millions of published books from the collections of three major academic libraries-- Stanford University, Harvard University and the University of Michiganfrom which Google plans to create an online, searchable database. Oxford University and the New York Public Library are also participating in the Library Project, but are only making available works in the public domain.
Over the objections voiced by the publishers and in the face of a lawsuit filed earlier by the Authors Guild on behalf of its 8,000 members, Google has indicated its intention to go forward with the unauthorized copying of copyrighted works beginning on November 1.
As a way of accomplishing the legal use of copyrighted works in the Print Library Project, AAP proposed to Google that they utilize the well-known ISBN numbering system to identify works under copyright and secure permission from publishers and authors to scan these works. Since the inception of the ISBN system in 1967, a unique ISBN number has been placed on every book, identifying each book and linking it to a specific publisher. Google flatly rejected this reasonable proposal.
Noting the existence of new online search initiatives that respect the rights of creators, such as the Open Content Alliance involving Yahoo, Hewlett-Packard, Adobe and the Internet Archive, Mrs. Schroeder said: If Google can scan every book in the English language, surely they can utilize ISBNs. By rejecting the reasonable ISBN solution, Google left our members no choice but to file this suit. As a twelve-term Member of Congress, Mrs. Schroeder served as the Ranking Member on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property.
Mrs. Schroeder noted that while Google Print Library could help many authors get more exposure and maybe even sell more books, authors and publishers should not be asked to waive their long-held rights so that Google can profit from this venture.
The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAPs approximately 300 members include most of the major commercial book publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies. The protection of intellectual property rights in all media, the defense of intellectual freedom, and the promotion of reading and literacy are among the Associations primary concerns.
Editors note: A list of the members of the AAP Board of Directors can be found at: http://www.publishers.org/about/boardmembers.cfm
A list of AAP member companies can be found at:
http://www.publishers.org/member/members.cfm.
Full text of McGraw-Hill vs. Google - Original PDF is here. What follows is text captured from the original PDF. Since the OCR process may introduct errors, users are advised to refer to the original PDF and not this extracted version.
FILED ELECTRONICALLY
Bruce P. Keller (BK 9300)
Jeffrey P. Cunard
James J. Pastor:, Jr. (JP 3 176)
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
919 Third Avenue
New York, New York 10022
(212) 909-6000
Attorneys for Plaintiffs
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
cv
THE MCGRAW-HILL COMPANIES, INC., :
PEARSON EDUCATION, INC., PENGUIN
GROUP (USA) INC., SIMON & SCHUSTER,
INC., and JOHN WILEY & SONS, INC.
Plaintiffs,
05 Civ. ( )
COMPLAINT
ECF Case
v
GOOGLE INC.,
Defendant.
x
Plaintiff publishers The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. ("McGraw-Hill"), Pearson
Education, Inc. ("Pearson Education"), Penguin Group (USA) Inc. ("Penguin"), Simon &
Schuster, Inc. ("Simon & Schuster"), and John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ("John Wiley")
(collectively, the "Publishers") for their complaint against defendant Google Inc.
("Google"), allege as follows:.NATURE OF THE ACTION
1 . This is an action for declaratory and preliminary and permanent injunctive
relief, arising under the U.S. Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. $5 101 et seq. (hereinafter referred to as the "Copyright Act").
2 . Publishers bring this action to prevent the continuing, irreparable and
imminent harm that Publishers are suffering, will continue to suffer and expect to suffer due to Googles willful infringement, to further its own commercial purposes, of the exclttsive rights of copyright that Publishers enjoy in various books housed in, among others, the collection of the University Library of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan ("Michigan").
3 . Using the rubric of a "Google Library Project," Google has announced
that it has begun and will continue a commercial program under which it will digitally
scan, or copy, the entirety of each of the books supplied to it by Michigan, without regard to whether (a) any or all of those books are protected by copyright and (b) any of the Publishers (or any other publisher or owner of copyright, for that matter) consents to having its copyrighted books included in the project.
4 . In consideration for receiving books from Michigan for scanning, Google proposes to make a digital copy of each book that it scans and then provide that copy to Michigan for Michigans own use. Google also proposes to (a) store, in perpetuity, one
or more of the resulting digital copies on Googles computer servers, (b) offer to the
public the ability to search, and have access to, the copies of the books stored on
Googles servers and to retrieve excerpts of those books and (c) publicly display the
2.excerpts of the books to any person in the world whose search, through Google, has
retrieved that book. All of these steps are taken by Google for the purpose of increasing the number of visitors to the google.com website and, in turn, Googles already substantial advertising revenue.
5 . The Publishers support making books available in digital form so that those books can be, among other things, researched through electronic means, To that end, they have separately developed and are continuing to develop various means of making electronic copies of their own works available consistent with their exclusive rights under copyright. One such means involves the recently announced Open Content Alliance ("OCA") involving a cooperative effort among publishers, libraries and Yahoo!
Unlike the Google Library Project, OCA will make books accessible to any search engine (including Googles). Also, unlike the Google Library Project, entire works will be made available with the permission of copyright holders in ways that protect their rights.
6 . The Google Library Project, however, completely ignores those rights in favor of Googles own economic self-interest. Notwithstanding the participation of Michigan and other academic and non-profit libraries, there should be no mistaking that Googles involvement in the Google Library Project is a wholly commercial undertaking, In exchange for the libraries providing Google with books for purposes of digital scanning, Google "pays" by reproducing and delivering digital copies of those books to the libraries. When Google makes still other digital copies available to the public for what it touts as research purposes, it does so in order to increase user traffic to its site, which then enables it to increase the price it charges its advertisers.
3
7. Because Googles entirely co
