Gripes over Google Books go technical

The debate of Google Books raises concerns about US copyright law.

There are millions of out-of-print books still protected by copyright, and negotiating separate deals with the rights holders would be complex and expensive. But that's not the most serious issue. As the Justice Department acknowledges, any company hoping to offer digital access to works published in the last century faces the initial, and perhaps impossible, challenge of actually identifying who currently holds the right in the first place. As it notes, "for many works, especially out-of-print works, rights clearance may not be possible as a practical matter." What the government agency doesn't mention is that the source of this "orphan works" problem is the government itself. Over the last hundred years, legislators have repeatedly extended the "limited" copyright monopoly and applied those extensions retroactively. But given the short commercial life of most printed books, many rights holders made no provision for inheritance or transfer of the remaining term of their copyrights--terms that may have even been extended after their death. The result is that millions of out-of-print books with no real hope of returning to print have gone into a kind of limbo. They are still protected by copyright, but no one knows who owns the rights.