[Corpora-List] Google Books, copyrights, and corpora

[Mark P. Line]

Chris Brew wrote:
>
> My guess is that a lawyer would advise caution,
> at least for now, simply because it is unclear what judges will
> eventually decide, if and when such a case comes to court. That, however,
> is just a guess.

I agree. In the United States at least, "fair use" is effectively defined
not by statutory language but by case law. Case law is an evolving thing,
and is particularly effervescent in the case of clever new online uses of
other people's intellectual property. Only your friendly neighborhood IP
lawyer knows for sure what the deal is this month. If you're Google, you
can probably[1] absorb the risk of winding up on the short end of the
stick in appellate court. If you're Ma & Pa Kettle's Kentucky Fried Text
Mining Company, Incorporated, the risk of litigation can send you back to
your high school job at Burger King.

IANAL. TINLA.

-- Mark

[1] Of course, that's what the tobacco industry thought, too.

Mark P. Line
Polymathix
San Antonio, TX