The Artful Jurist

An author wrote to me with a question about the new deal Google has to scan the pages of out-of-print books into its online database. The author was concerned that her now out-of-print (but still copyright protected) book might be swept up in that scanning without her permission.

Well, as I understand the settlement that came out of litigation, Google's plan is to scan so-called "orphan books"—that is, books that are out of print and also have no current, clear copyright owner. These are the kinds of books that make up large percentages of libraries' musty, old shelves. Lots of old textbooks and other treatises that have long since seen their titles disappear from a publisher's catalogue. Trust me, there are no current best-sellers that are orphan books.

To put the author's fears at rest, even if her book is out of print, so long as she, as the copyright holder, is capable of being located, her book is not an orphan and should not end up in Google's net.