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Author Topic: ASMP joins suit against Google  (Read 5159 times)

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WarrenPrice

« on: April 07, 2010, 14:34 »
0
Following is cut and paste from an email I just received from ASMP.


PHOTOGRAPHERS FILE CLASS ACTION AGAINST GOOGLEWednesday, April 7, 2010 2:12 PM
From: "Susan Carr" <[email protected]>Add sender to ContactsTo: [email protected] FILE CLASS ACTION AGAINST GOOGLE

Philadelphia, PAThe American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), 
joined by the Graphic Artists Guild, the Picture Archive Council of 
America, the North American Nature Photography Association, 
Professional Photographers of America, photographers Leif Skoogfors, 
Al Satterwhite, Morton Beebe, Ed Kashi and illustrators John Schmelzer 
and Simms Taback, has filed a class action copyright infringement suit 
against Google, Inc. in the U.S. District for the Southern District of 
New York. The suit, which was filed by Mishcon de Reya New York LLP, 
relates to Googles illegal scanning of millions of books and other 
publications containing copyrighted images and displaying them to the 
public without regard to the rights of the visual creators.  ASMP and 
the other trade associations, representing thousands of members, 
decided to file the class action after the Court denied their request 
to join the currently pending $125 million class action that had 
previously been filed primarily on behalf of text authors in 
connection with the Google Library Project. The new class action goes 
beyond Googles Library Project, and includes Googles other 
systematic and pervasive infringements of the rights of photographers, 
illustrators and other visual artists.

This action by ASMP and its sister organizations was taken in order to 
protect the interests of owners of copyrights in visual works from the 
massive and organized copying and public display of their images 
without regard to their contributions and rights to fair 
compensation.  According to ASMP Executive Director Eugene Mopsik, 
Through this suit, we are fulfilling the missions of our 
organizations and standing up for the rights of photographers and 
other visual artists who have been excluded from the process up to 
now. We strongly believe that our members and those of other 
organizations, whose livelihoods are significantly and negatively 
impacted, deserve to have representation in this landmark issue.   
ASMP General Counsel Victor Perlman said, We are seeking justice and 
fair compensation for visual artists whose work appears in the twelve 
million books and other publications Google has illegally scanned to 
date.  In doing so, we are giving voice to thousands of 
disenfranchised creators of visual artworks whose rights we hope to 
enforce through this class action.

____________________________________
Susan Carr
Education Director
The American Society of Media Photographers


« Reply #1 on: April 07, 2010, 14:53 »
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I would think that the writers of the books and publications would be filing a suit as well. Their writing material must be copyrighted, too.

Even Google assumes that everything printed must be in the public domain.   :-\

RacePhoto

« Reply #2 on: April 07, 2010, 15:13 »
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Sure sounds evil to me, making resources available, bibliographies, locations to buy or borrow the books, and helping people find materials. Honestly it sounds like someone wants to make some money on a class action suit, the lawyers are the only ones who profit from his.

"What does a Google Books Library Project book look like?

When you click on a search result for a book from the Library Project, you'll see basic bibliographic information about the book, and in many cases, a few snippets a few sentences showing your search term in context.

If the book is out of copyright, youll be able to view and download the entire book. In all cases, you'll see links directing you to online bookstores where you can buy the book and libraries where you can borrow it."

Looks like fair use of excerpts to me? Of course considering it's Google and not the Library of Congress or some other public information organization, makes it a target for attacking the evil empire.

« Reply #3 on: April 07, 2010, 15:16 »
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So did PPA.

lisafx

« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2010, 16:45 »
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Interesting development.  Definitely something to watch.

Thanks for posting Warren :)

WarrenPrice

« Reply #5 on: April 07, 2010, 16:53 »
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I would think that the writers of the books and publications would be filing a suit as well. Their writing material must be copyrighted, too.

Even Google assumes that everything printed must be in the public domain.   :-\

I think they did, Cathy.  ASMP, PPA and several others tried becoming a part of the original suit but were denied by a judge ...  So, they filed a separate suit.

macrosaur

    This user is banned.
« Reply #6 on: April 07, 2010, 18:13 »
0
i praise China for having booted google out of their networks.

« Reply #7 on: April 07, 2010, 18:18 »
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Even if the book is out of copyright, you can't scan what has been typed, composed, formated, etc by others as if t was done by you. Go and type the book yourself.

« Reply #8 on: April 08, 2010, 06:44 »
0
I would think that the writers of the books and publications would be filing a suit as well. Their writing material must be copyrighted, too.

Even Google assumes that everything printed must be in the public domain.   :-\

I think they did, Cathy.  ASMP, PPA and several others tried becoming a part of the original suit but were denied by a judge ...  So, they filed a separate suit.

Sorry, I didn't know what PPA meant.

RacePhoto

« Reply #9 on: April 08, 2010, 21:11 »
0
Even if the book is out of copyright, you can't scan what has been typed, composed, formated, etc by others as if t was done by you. Go and type the book yourself.


You can't? The copyright has expired it's Public Domain!

I think some people are jumping at this because it's Google Hate, not because of the purpose and resource it provides.

If this class action suit is won, then Amazon can't use pictures of the covers of books, or excerpts. No one can do reviews anymore with contents. There is an issue here of fair use of "snippets" as they call them. It means the end to all searches for information with any content that would be useful for identifying what's in the source material.

Try to view this from the legal perspective and the larger ramifications, not from an emotionalized hate for Google.

Look before you leap!

http://news.cnet.com/Publishers-sue-Google-over-book-search-project/2100-1030_3-5902115.html

And this bit of old news...

Association of American Publishers (AAP) v. Google (Google Books Project) (Read more.. ). Filed in on October 19, 2005.

Claims: copyright infringement. Google is scanning books, which might still be copyrighted.


For those of you who love to hate Google, remember that if you search for a news story, the ramifications could be that nothing from news sources could be carried, especially no images. This could mean all search engines would be in effect neutered.

The one argument that seems to be sticky is that Google does profit from it's search contents. That's what made them what they are, and how the search engine stays in business. Profiting from displaying portions of copyrighted materials could be an issue. If this happens the whole legal system and free use could be altered.
« Last Edit: April 08, 2010, 21:34 by RacePhoto »

« Reply #10 on: April 09, 2010, 12:32 »
0
Hi Warren,

 Glad to see you have published this. It is an important subject that has more branches than a willow tree, well done.

Best,
Jonathan


 

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