The Google Books Issue

Imagine a world with unlimited access to books. Imagine that you don't need to buy books from a bookstore. Imagine that all the reading materials that you need are just at the touch of a keyboard. Imagine that there is barrier, physical or geographical, that can keep you from getting your hands on a book. Impossible?

Google Books is just doing it.

When the search engine giant first started, its founders imagined information stored in hundreds of thousands of books scattered around the world to become available. They dreamed that there will come a day that people can access any ind of book or magazine anywhere they are in the world. There's no need to travel to Italy just to see Leonardo Da Vinci's journals. You can view it in the comforts of your own home. Out-of-print books can have a new publishing life once they become available online. All you have to do is to purchase a copy from Google. And the tragedies that was the Library of Alexandria and others will no longer happen, since the virtual versions of the books would definitely be saved from the dangers of loss.

Despite these seemingly noble efforts, there has been some strong opposition to the efforts. Initially, Google Books planned to scan only books found in the public domain. However, as Google Books began their scanning operations, they started to include books that are still in the copyrighted domain. The Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers then filed a class-action lawsuit against Google Books for copyright infringement.

The basic issues being raised in the suit was copyright protection, access to published works, and profit issues. Authors and publishers would naturally want to have more control over the distribution of their works, and also a share of Google's profits with it. Google, on the other hand, wanted more control over the books they've scanned. Because if things go the way it is, not only will Google Books become the biggest repository of works, it can also become the biggest bookstore in the web.

The legal issues may have been settled by both parties, but questions still remain. And there are practically more questions than their answers. What will become of Google Docs in the end? No one really knows for sure. There's only one this for certain, whatever it is, it's bound to end big.