Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Is Google book search "Fair Use"?

Lawrence Lessig on Google Book Search and copyright......

1 comment:

Jyoti said...

What an interesting piece! I thought that a clear-speaking lawyer was an oxymoron - now I know that Lessig is one such lawyer, my expectation is going up in terms of what I will want from my lawyer in future.

The Google Book Search case pivots on the laws of intellectual property. The way these have been implemented (hijacked?) in the music industry has hurt everybody: the consumer, the artist, and even the publishers that have fought legal battles to get what they wanted.

As a music lover, I refuse to be stuck with music carrying Digital Rights Management software that compromises my rights to use what I have bought, as well the quality of what I get.

We need to make sure that 20th century laws on intellectual property do not compromise the way we live and work in the 21st century. Lessig's article is must reading (or should I say listening - I have never come across the YouTube technology before but his use of it is brilliant). Highly recommended.

Jyoti Banerjee