Yahoo counters Google with book copying scheme

A CONSORTIUM OF firms led by Yahoo will scan books and collect content but unlike Google proposes to get permission from copyright owners first.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Open Content Alliance (OCA) will at first scan in books that are out of copyright or will use books licensed under Creative Commons guidelines.

See Creative Commons 'liberates' Argentina.

Google attracted ire last month from the Authors Guild, which attacked the search behemoth for scanning books without first asking permission.

But, according to the Journal, the OCA will talk to publishers and authors before scanning and will even pay fees.

The first books that the OCA will scan in include works by Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain and other books described as being the American Canon.

The OCA has the backing of HP, Adobe, O'Reilly, the University of California, the University of Toronto, the UK National Archives and others. µ

L'INQ
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