google and intellectual property

[JQ Johnson]

The discussion of google raises interesting intellectual property issues.
For example, Nancy Bohm asks:

>"wants you to use?"  I have it on my page too (just about the same), but
>have been unable to get any response to my email requests for permission
>(I'm using it anyway since it's a private-school, non-commercial site).

Perhaps the particular snippet of HTML code that Google recommends could
be copyrighted.  However, suppose you put on your web page a functional
equivalent:

<form method="GET" action="http://www.google.com/search">
Search Google for: <input type="text" name="q">
<input type="submit" name="sa" VALUE="Search">
</form>

This can't possibly be restricted based on copyright (no original
expression is being copied).  The only argument Google could have for any
ownership claim would be some restriction on "deep linking" to a site, and
such restrictions have typically not been looked at favorably by the
courts.

So, the moral to the story is that you don't need to ask for permission.
And arguably you SHOULD NOT ask for permission, since doing so sets
precedents that such permission is expected to be necessary.  The library
community has a very strong incentive not to dilute our rights to use
("fair use" and otherwise) information.

JQ Johnson                      Office: 115F Knight Library
Academic Education Coordinator  mailto:jqj at darkwing.uoregon.edu
1299 University of Oregon       phone: 1-541-346-1746; -3485 fax
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