“First, does an entity conducting an unauthorized digitization and indexing project avoid committing copyright infringement by offering rights holders the opportunity to “opt out,” or request removal or exclusion of their content?… Second, can unauthorized digitization, indexing, and display of “snippets” of print works constitute a fair use?”
It concludes with a discussion of the ongoing litigation and possible outcomes.
Thanks to my law librarian colleague, Bev Butula, for the link.
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has recently compiled a report on The Google Library Project: Is Digitization for Purposes of Online Indexing Fair Use Under Copyright Law?
The report offers some background of the project and discusses the legal implications: