Google launches classics download service

INTERNET: The internet search engine Google is allowing websurfers to download entire classics such as Dante's Divine Comedyfor free, as it extends its controversial Book Search service.

Yesterday's launch means readers can now get the entire text ofbooks no longer under copyright - such as Shakespeare's completeworks or Victor Hugo's Les Miserables - and print them out at home.Until now, they only could read books out of copyright online.

Under EU law, copyright normally expires 70 years after the deathof the author, but Google has taken a more conservative approach. InEurope, the project means that books published up until the mid-19th century will now be available online and can be printed out.Readers can also search texts for key phrases and passages.

Google says it aims to make the world's books "discoverableonline" by offering both well-known classics and obscure titles onevery conceivable subject.

The search engine's foray into the world of books has riledpublishers around the world, but the company's academic backers werekeen to stress yesterday that it had been misunderstood.

Mr Reg Carr, director of Oxford University's Bodleian Library, apartner in the project, said it would open up the world ofliterature and make available more obscure titles, such asscientific tracts and long-forgotten poetry from the 18th century.

"Public domain books, long out of copyright and seen only by thefortunate few in the great research libraries of the world, areabout to come out of the closet in their millions and into the homesof internet users all over the world."

Other industry experts said digitising books from around theworld would also breathe new life into libraries.

Joel Rickett, deputy editor of the publishing magazine theBookseller, said: "It is really interesting for libraries because itis an amazing opportunity for them to put stuff they have gotsitting on dusty shelves, unbrowsed, in front of people."

As for the threat to booksellers, Mr Rickett said people wereunlikely to replace a trip to a store to buy an old classic with adownload from the web resulting in piles of paper. "It can be done,but you can't really take them to the beach or in the bath," hesaid.

The Book Search service forms part of Google's ambitious LibraryProject.

This undertaking has seen it form partnerships with majorinstitutions around the world, including the University ofCalifornia, Harvard, the New York Public Library, Oxford Universityand the Library of Congress.

Under the Library Project, if a book is still in copyright, usersjust get basic information such as the title, author, informationabout which library it is in or where it can be bought and, at most,a few excerpts.

Even publishing snippets has unsettled some publishers.

The Association of American Publishers last year filed a lawsuitagainst Google, alleging its plans to scan and digitally distributethe text of library collections would violate copyright protections.

Google feels its intentions have been misrepresented by apublishing industry desperately trying to come to terms with theweb. The search engine argues that the small extracts of textconstitute "fair use".

Google said: "If publishers or authors don't want to have theirbooks digitised, they just have to say so and we exclude them."