Public Knowledge criticizes publishers’ suit against Google

Wednesday, the Association of American Publishers sued Google, saying that the Google Print project to digitize books would violate copyright. Public Knowledge President Gigi B. Sohn responded:

"The publishers’ suit against Google is truly unfortunate and short-sighted. Those who produce books should be heartened to see a project that has as its goal the legal distribution of knowledge and insight. The publishers also stand to gain increased exposure for their books. Instead, they are taking to court a program that would only fully digitize public-domain work and would give readers only a glimpse of copyrighted material. That Google project falls squarely within the boundaries of fair use, and the publishers should recognize that.”

Dead on.