[Web4lib] Google Print pulls copyrighted materials

[Richard Wiggins]

I suggest patience and caution in reading this.  The Google Print beta
has launched with books that are free of copyright encumberance. 
Google has stated that they will concentrate first on public domain
books, and books out of print.  I have not seen a statement that
they've abandoned plans to scan copyrighted materials that are still
in-print.

They wanted to launch their beta so the world could see how it works. 
So of course you launch with titles that are not in dispute.

It is amazing what sort of grievances against Google Print are popping
up.  A children's hospital in the UK is afraid that if Google Print
includes Peter Pan in its collection, royalties to the hospital will
cease:

"Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity has received
royalties from Peter Pan since 1929. An Act of Parliament, passed in
1988, extended the book's copyright indefinitely. If people stopped
buying the book, and accessed it through Google's service, the
hospital — which cares for seriously ill children — could lose
millions of pounds."

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/0,39020645,39235708,00.htm

/rich