Re: Neat summary of Google strategy

>> Indeed.  Think about the "Cached" link in most Google
>> search results.
>
> This has not been tested in a court so far as I know, and my
> opinion remains that Google has no right to place copyright
> matter on a permanent [in the meaning of persistent beyond
> technical need rather than for all time] database. All
> copying is copyright and is in the gift of the rightsowner
> with just one or two exceptions - mostly under fair use
> [U.S.] and fair dealing [U.K.].

Joe, you do "have a choice" and you do have the means to prevent this.  
Use "nofollow" and your robots.txt file and you can exempt your WHOLE  
SITE from Google cache and index. And for that, you have to accept the  
risk of obscurity that goes with not being in a search engine. While  
it may be a tacit deal, it IS a deal and Google offers something of  
value in return for making a couple of copies of your page. I usually  
say that 'exposure" is of no value unless it's EXPOSURE. And being in  
the Google index is exposure that is EXPOSURE. It's of value. And, I  
do believe that Google could make a very good argument that their  
index and associated cache fall under fair use.You could, I suppose,  
litigate it.

The thing about copyright is that the rightsholder is still expected  
to litigate violations (except in certain circumstances). I don't  
think you will find a US attorney who is dumb enough to try to  
litigate a search engine's cache. But you could try it. I'm not sure  
you'd find a judge dumb enough to take the case, because not only do  
you have another option for preventing a cache copy from being made,  
you can also send a DMCA takedown and very likely get removed from the  
cache and index altogether.

I don't think this one could be litigated without involving a lot of  
laughter at your expense.

>> For some originators, like book illustrators, there is not
> even a payment in prospect. The weakness of the system for a
> rightsowner is that Google chooses opt-out; i.e. it assumes
> the right of someone else.

Which would have ALL been solved had congress done something useful  
with orphan works in the last session. They refused to. Orphan works  
are a BIG problem. Google's settlement may not be the best route, but  
it's the only one that's actually been worked out by anyone. At some  
point, SOMETHING must be done about orphan works.

dej

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