Google Debate Roadshow Continues

Last month, I sat in on a debate between Google and the publishing industry over the Google Book Search Program. That argument played out again Wednesday night in another roundtable discussion, this time hosted by the New York City Bar Association, and if:book was there to report on the proceedings. “The discussion was vigorous, at times heated,” noted Ben Vershbow, “in many ways a preview of arguments that could eventually be aired (albeit under a much stricter clock) in front of federal judges.”

Unlike the NYPL event I attended, where the audience was willing to give the Google rep and sympathetic commentator Lawrence Lessig much of their support, the mood at this event “turned noticeably against Google (perhaps due to a preponderance of publishing lawyers in the audience).” One of the participants, law professor Susan Crawford, shares her own perspective of the evening, suggesting that the industry “[would] like to use copyright law to protect against network effects and first-mover advantages that they can’t personally monetize,” as publishers suggest that Google is “working itself into a position to be the world’s bookstore for e-books.”

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