ALPSP calls for 'urgent' Google meeting

Sally Morris, chief executive of the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), has warned Google that its "temporary concession" not to scan copyright protected texts held in libraries was "still not enough" and has called on the giant search engine to hold an "urgent meeting" with representatives of all major publishing organisations, in order to work out a " realistic--and legal--way forward", reports the Bookseller.

She said that the ALPSP, which represents not-for-profit publishers, had advised its members that they should consider excluding all their publications, after Google said that publishers could opt-out individual titles. "We are also recommending (as suggested by Google themselves) that publishers can protect both in- and out-of-copyright print and electronic works by placing them in the Google Print for Publishers program instead."

Morris' statement was part of a submission to a debate on traditional publishing in the "age of search", organised by the Publishers Association and Electronic Publishing Services (EPS). Morris argued: "We continue to insist that publishers must be given the possibility to opt in, rather than to opt out. We do not accept that Google has the right to digitise just because a publisher has not said 'no'."

Google, which is holding off scanning further copyright protected books until November, has claimed that its procedures do not infringe copyright protection. Morris disputed this: "We can see no possible argument that this is legal for works that are still in copyright; making digital copies of many thousands of copyright works in their entirety (and by a commercial organisation for its own purposes) cannot conceivably qualify as Fair Use." She also described Google's claim of ownership of the digital file of the scanned-in text as " ominous".

However, she added that publishers were seeing the benefits from the Google Print programme, which was done on an 'opt in' basis: "A number of ALPSP member publishers participate, and they have been pleased with the increased hits, though as far as I am aware, actual print sales have not increased dramatically."