Lessig Audio Interview: Google Print

Lessig Audio Interview: Google Print: "Digital Village has archived an hour-long interview with copyright specialist and Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig. The topic range is wide, and if you go to Part 1 at about 25:30, the talk turns to Google Print. Lessig argues that Google Print should be allowed to continue, without the requirement of clearing copyright for each book, because of the difficulty in tracking down ownership of many books. Lessig estimates that 24-million books are in copyright but out of print, and therefore difficult to track. He calls current copyright “the most inefficient property system known to man.” The argument, then, hinges on the validity of copyright, rather than the validity of Google’s initiative. I’m no lawyer, but that doesn’t seem as if it would be a winning argument in court, where overarching agendas are mostly irrelevant. Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments� 2005 Weblogs, Inc. Ads by Google"