Google sued for "freeloading" by big publishing group

[Alpine]

Hey you get off of our copyright

THE ASSOCIATION of American Publishers (AAP) filed suit against search giant Google.

It said it filed the legal action over Google's plans to digitally copy and distribute copyrighted works without permission, and only did so after "lengthy discussions" broke down.

The legal action was filed on behalf of five major members of the association: McGraw Hill, Pearson Education, Penguin USA, Simon and Schuster and John Wiley and Sons.

But the suit, said the AAP, has the overwhelming backing of the US publishing industry. Pat Schroeder, AAP president, said: "The bottom line is that under its current plan Google is seeking to make millions of dollars by freeloading on the talent and property of authors and publishers."

The AAP said that Google should have used the ISBN numbering system so they could identify copyright works and get permission before they scan books. According to the AAP, Google "flatly rejected this reasonable proposal".


The INQuirer