[Summary]
Google launched Google Print in May 2005, followed by Google Books in
August 2006, while struggling with associations of authors and
publishers. The beta version of Google Print went live in May 2005,
with: (a) a project aimed at publishers, launched in October 2004; and
(b) a project intended for libraries, launched in December 2004. Three
months later, Google Print was stopped until further notice because of
lawsuits filed by associations of authors and publishers for copyright
infringement. The program resumed in August 2006 under the new name of
Google Books. Google Books started offering books digitized in the
participating libraries (Harvard, Stanford, Michigan, Oxford,
California, Virginia, Wisconsin-Madison, Complutense of Madrid, and New
York Public Library), with either the full text for public domain books
or excerpts for copyrighted books. Other libraries joined then. Google
also tried to settle a lawsuit with associations of authors and
publishers in October 2008. A agreement has not be reached yet (as of
July 2011).
***
Google launched Google Print in May 2005, followed by Google Books in
August 2006, while struggling with associations of authors and
publishers.
The beta version of Google Print went live in May 2005, after two
earlier steps. In October 2004, Google launched the first part of
Google Print as a project aimed at publishers, for internet users to be
able to see excerpts of books and order them online. In December 2004,
Google launched the second part of Google Print as a project intended
for libraries, to build up a digital library of 15 million books by
digitizing the collections of major partner libraries, beginning with
the libraries of the Universities of Michigan (7 million books),
Harvard, Stanford and Oxford, and the New York Public Library. The
planned cost in 2004 was an average of US $10 per book, and a total
budget of $150 to $200 million for ten years. Three months later,
Google Print was stopped until further notice because of lawsuits filed
by associations of authors and publishers for copyright infringement.
The program resumed in August 2006 under the new name of Google Books.
The participating libraries now also included the libraries of the
Universities of California, Virginia, and Wisconsin-Madison, and the
Complutense of Madrid. Google Books provided a full text for public
domain books, and excerpts for copyrighted books. According to some
media buzz, Google was scanning 3,000 books a day.
After three years of conflict, Google reached a settlement in October
2008 with associations of authors and publishers, with an agreement to
be signed during the next years. The inclusion of copyrighted works in
Google Books had been widely criticized by authors and publishers
worldwide. In the U.S., lawsuits were filed by the Authors Guild and
the Association of American Publishers (AAP) for alleged copyright
infringement. The assumption was that the full scanning and digitizing
of copyrighted books infringed copyright laws, even if only snippets
were made freely available, whereas Google thought this was "fair use",
referring to short excerpts from copyrighted books that could be
lawfully quoted in another book or website, as long as the source
(author, title, publisher) was mentioned.
As of December 2008, Google had 24 library partners, including a Swiss
one (University Library of Lausanne), a French one (Lyon Municipal
Library), a Belgian one (Ghent University Library), a German one
(Bavarian State Library), two Spanish ones (National Library of
Catalonia, and University Complutense of Madrid), and a Japanese one
(Keio University Library). The U.S. partner libraries were, per
alphabetical order: Columbia University, Committee on Institutional
Cooperation (CIC), Cornell University Library, Harvard University, New
York Public Library, Oxford University, Princeton University, Stanford
University, University of California, University of Michigan,
University of Texas at Austin, University of Virginia, and University
of Wisconsin-Madison.