26 April 2006
CAL to Google: ask and you shall receive
Michael Fraser, Chief Executive Officer of Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) says that information brokers such as Google who copy the creative works of others without permission are ‘free riders'.
Speaking today at the 6 th International Publishers Association Copyright Symposium in Montreal , Canada , on the topic Google and Beyond: How Will Digitisation Affect Copyright, Publishing and Access to Literature? Mr Fraser said copyright owners are not afraid of Google.
‘While there may be a period now of confrontation about copyright, history has taught us that respect for property rights achieves the best result for society - a market economy.'
Mr Fraser said that while copyright owners want to make their works available to readers, information brokers such as Google have an obligation to get permission before they copy works - and an obligation to pay publishers and authors a fair price when requested.
Mr Fraser said the way to make these property rights and obligations connect is by building relationships of trust between owners and copiers.
‘An international publishers' rights platform is needed to support secure property rights transactions. It will facilitate lawful access to content on-line for libraries and search engines such as Google.'
Mr Fraser said that collecting societies can become part of the new digital economy by providing digital rights management services, but needed to partner with publishers and authors to really make access work.
‘Rights management organisations are part of the solution. We insist on copyrights, so we must offer global solutions to make compliance easy.
“By partnering with publishers and authors we can build this rights database to facilitate proper access – linking more consumers to digital publishers.
‘We want to work together with publishers and authors to give readers and other users what they are looking for – access to content that respects the creators of content.' said Michael Fraser.
Media contact:
Trina Backstrom
CAL Public Affairs
Ph: 61 2 9394 7600
Mob: 0412 070 459
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