Google Ruling Raises Questions for Web 2.0 Mashups
The finding by a Belgian court that Google has violated copyright protections by displaying links and segments of newspaper articles raises questions about the legality of mashups. Belgian Court Rules That Google Violated Copyright Laws - New York Times details some of the issues but the basic question to anyone who references content (like search engines and bloggers) is, how can you legally reference content you don't create?
In Belgium it looks like you need prior permission. If this ruling had been against Apple, we'd probably see ads like the Vista security segment with a security agent constantly asking the PC character for permission to carry out some task.
If this ruling stands and is an example of copyright rulings in the European Union in general, we can expect a division of content in the Web.
On the one side, we'll have open content which people with link to, share, and debate. Copyrights will still exist and creators of intellectual property will receive the financial benefits of their work. In the end, open access content will have more impact than closed access content.
If access is closed off and riddled with trivial protections, then content will have little impact. If I have to go to directly to Newspaper A's web site to read an article instead of searching news.google.com to find the article in the first place, you can bet chances are slim that I'd read that article at all.
This ruling is unfortunate at a time when mashup tools are changing the way we access content on the Web. Let's hope this ruling is an anomaly and not a luddite-esque attempt to squash innovation instead of negotiating a deal with Google. The New York Times article gives some hope quoting a Google rep:
“This is an isolated case and it would be inaccurate to portray Google News as standing in conflict with the publishing industry,” said Jessica Powell, a London-based spokeswoman for Google. “We currently have 10,000 sources in Google News and get contacted every day by others seeking to be included.”
An attorney quoted by Advertisng Age nailed the root problem:
"This is an example of a law that was enacted before the internet, when it cost lots of money to print things and it was easier to control," said Mr. Wood. "It doesn't fit so well in a world when copying and aggregating is so easy and economical."
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Comments
See article on legality of mashups I wrote at:
http://www.sheppardmullin.com/images/pubs/pub596.PDF
Posted by: Bob Gerber | March 18, 2007 9:13 PM