Google book settlement -- DENIED (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

A case decided in the 9th circuit puts into limbo the copyright status
of books published outside the US between 1909 and 1922.  Google "Twin
Books" + "9th Circuit" for details.  It is not altogether obvious that
the book about Oscar Wilde that Garson mentions below is in fact in the
public domain (at least based on the information he gives).

Since Google, the Internet Archive and other web-based resources are in
California (part of the 9th Circuit), this explains partially why some
of what you'd expect to be fully available, isn't.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
Behalf Of
> Garson O'Toole
> Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 7:33 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Google book settlement -- DENIED
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
----------------------
> -
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Google book settlement -- DENIED
>
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------
> -
>
> There are works in the Google Books database that were published
> before 1923, I think, that are only shown in snippet view. Here is an
> example of a volume with valuable information about Oscar Wilde that
> was published in 1916 or 1915 according to WorldCat; however, it is
> not fully accessible in Google Books:
>
> [ROCS] 1916, The Real Oscar Wilde: To be used as a Supplement to, and
> in Illustration of "The Life of Oscar Wilde" by Robert Harborough
> Sherard, T. Werner Laurie, Ltd., London.
>
> Google Books has multiple instances of this work and most have been
> placed in the worst access mode: No Preview. There is at least one
> copy of the book that is viewable in snippet mode:
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=-yk3AAAAIAAJ&
>
> Luckily, a copy of the same work is fully accessible via HathiTrust.
> Thus, the two organizations appear to have different policies
> regarding the enforcement of copyright restrictions:
>
> http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b3575586
>
> I've encountered similar situations on several occasions. Years ago
> Ben Zimmer pointed out the advisability of checking HathiTrust
> whenever Google Books blocks access to a volume that appears to be in
> the public domain.
>
> Garson
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 5, 2011 at 4:34 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com>
wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
--------------------
> ---
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: Google book settlement -- DENIED
> >
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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> ---
> >
> > I have seen books previously in the public domain become unavailable
when a
> > reprint is issued, and then come back again.
> >
> > DanG
> >
> > On Tue, Apr 5, 2011 at 4:26 PM, Ken Hirsch <kenhirsch at ftml.net>
wrote:
> >
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> -----------------------
> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster:       Ken Hirsch <kenhirsch at FTML.NET>
> >> Subject:      Re: Google book settlement -- DENIED
> >>
> >>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
> ----
> >>
> >> On Tue, Apr 5, 2011 at 2:28 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com>
wrote:
> >>
> >> > On Tue, Apr 5, 2011 at 1:08 PM, Ken Hirsch <kenhirsch at ftml.net>
wrote:
> >> > > Works published before 1923 are in the public domain.
> >> >
> >> > Apparently, this is fact is of consequence only in the case of
works
> >> > *that have not been reprinted since then*, even in those cases in
> >> > which the reprint is now out of print, too. Indeed, the stricture
> >> > preventing Google Books from providing so much as a snippet holds
even
> >> > when the reprint has been merely "forthcoming" for over a decade
and a
> >> > half.
> >> >
> >> > --
> >> > -Wilson
> >> >
> >>
> >> That's not my understanding. I believe that everything published in
the
> >> U.S=
> >> .
> >> before 1923 is definitely in the public domain and Google can do
what they
> >> want with it. Essentially everything published outside the U.S.
before 1923
> >> is in the public domain here and, mostly, elsewhere.
> >>
> >> There were provisions in the proposed settlement about classifying
books as
> >> in-print/out-of-print and that did include reprints, but this
determination
> >> did not apply to public domain works.  For example:
> >>
> >> "(1) In-Copyright Principal Work.
> >>
> >> If a Book=92s Principal Work is not in the public domain under the
> >> Copyrigh=
> >> t
> >> Act in the United States and that Book is Commercially Available,
then any
> >> other Book that has the same Principal Work (such as a previous
edition) is
> >> also deemed to be Commercially Available, whether or not such other
Book is
> >> at the time in question also Commercially Available."
> >>
> >>
> >> There are certainly 19th-century books available freely on Google
Books
> >> today that also have reprints available.
> >>
> >> Ken
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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