Google vs. Newspapers: What is the Real Issue? - Getting a Handle on the Issues
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Let’s back up one more time to look at this issue of copyright. Sometimes you have to wonder if Google and these content producers are speaking the same language when they use that word, especially when Google insists that it respects copyright. Indexing a web page is not copying it. Arguably, caching might be considered copying, though whether that counts as an infringement is still legally debatable.
Even if you would argue that indexing a web page is the same as copying it, there’s another point to consider. Search engines do a job that hardly existed before the Internet, except for librarians. There is no question that they perform a much-needed service – but to do that service, they risk engaging in copyright violations. Has copyright law not kept up with our current needs? Should search engines be exempt from traditional copyright protections?
Google has made a number of arguments pertaining to how it treats copyright. It points out that the users of its service need to click through to read the entire article. This could arguably be called “fair use,” though again that’s a complicated point.
Clearly, Copiepresse and the other plaintiffs want some kind of deal. Google does strike certain deals when it needs to – for example, it came to an agreement with the Associated Press about listing the news agency’s content, for an undisclosed sum. Whether the search engine would be willing to pay for more content remains to be seen.
It’s not unusual for Google to make special publishing arrangements that don’t involve money, by the way; some sites have user subscriptions and are therefore difficult to index, but have content worth indexing (such as Le Monde and the New York Times). If the sites represented as plaintiffs want to negotiate a deal with Google, however, perhaps they should simply remove themselves from the index. They’ll find out whether Google and its users consider their content important enough to include by how quickly the search engine comes around asking for permission to include it.
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