RE: Catalogs.google.com and copyright

Thanks for the link. This database seems to have archived "snapshots" of the web. The copyright notice is linked to material that seems to say that the copyright holder needs to obtain permission from the copyright infringer to opt-out of the database. How odd is that?

Rod

On Thu, 20 Dec 2001, Eric wrote:

> For an even bigger copyright problem, perhaps the biggest one ever, see
>
> http://www.archive.org/index.html
>
> Here, consents have almost never been given.
>
> ~E
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-cni-copyright[_at_]cni.org [mailto:owner-cni-copyright[_at_]cni.org]On
> > Behalf Of Rich Wiggins
> > Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2001 8:18 AM
> > To: Multiple recipients of list
> > Subject: Catalogs.google.com and copyright
> >
> >
> >
> > Google has launched a new service that's kind of nifty. It is
> > a searchable index of product catalogs. This isn't some fancy
> > XML-based multi-vendor integration into a mall; it's a database
> > of scanned paper catalogs.
> >
> > You can search for specific products across all the catalog
> > vendors, or you can browse the collection by subject area.
> > The "hits" are scanned page images with search terms highlighted.
> > Pretty impressive stuff.
> >
> > These include many major vendors, such as Crate and Barrel, Williams-.
> > Sonoma, Crutchfield, Cabela's, Eddie Bauer, etc. One irony is
> > that this puts a vendor with a pure Web-based catalog at a
> > disadvantage compared to those who still mail trees to people's
> > houses.
> >
> > I did some sample searches. Searches for digital cameras, XM radio,
> > entertainment centers, and Gore Tex all went well.
> >
> > Google does not say on their Web site how they got permission
> > to host these hundreds of catalogs. Perhaps they did seek
> > and receive permission. Here is the list of catalogs so far:
> >
> > http://catalogs.google.com/catalog_list
> >
> > So here is my academic query: if someone were to build such a
> > Web-based index of scanned page images from paper product catalogs,
> > and if one did not have explicit permission from a given catalog to
> > do same, would one not be infringing the catalog publisher's copyright?
> >
> > /rich
> >
>
Received on Fri Dec 21 2001 - 17:01:02 GMT