Yahoo does not want to help Google in the digitization of books

Slashdot It! Yahoo has turned down Google's request for information on its project to convert books to a digital format as Google prepares to fend off a copyright infringement suit arising from its own ambitious plan to create digital copies of millions of books. Amazon previously denied Google access to information about its digitization efforts. Yahoo is ganging up with rivals that Google failed to work with

In declining to cooperate with a subpoena issued by Google, Yahoo joins Amazon, which previously denied Google access to information about its own digitization efforts. Amazon has digitally copied books to allow shoppers on its site to browse through them and search them for specific terms.

Yahoo is part of an alliance that includes Microsoft, which is working to create a rival database of digitally scanned books.

Several publishing firms, together with the Authors Guild, brought the suit against Google a year ago. They claim that the Google Print project, designed to digitally copy books and make them available on the Internet, would violate copyrights.

Google has begun seeking information on other book digitization programs, including Amazon's and the one backed by Yahoo and Microsoft.

Google may help in the sales of the books

Google had struck deals with some publishers to include their works in the program, and has argued all along that having books available digitally could boost sales by allowing users to conduct keyword searches.

Google said users would not be able to download entire copies of copyright-protected books, but instead would be referred to a site, such as Amazon, or the publisher's own home page, where the book could be purchased.

To help build its defense in the suit, Google issued a number of subpoenas in October, asking Yahoo, Microsoft, and publishers HarperCollins, Random House and Holtzbrinck to provide details on every book the companies have made available online or plan to by the end of 2009.

Google agreed to comply with a court order requiring that all information obtained be used only in its defense in the case and not for competitive advantage, though some attorneys have questioned whether companies realistically could be guaranteed that anything they turned over would not weaken their competitive positions.

The two sides in the argument over digitizing books have dug their heels in, making a settlement unlikely, according to search engine analyst John Battelle. For publishers, the industry's very existence as the intermediary between authors and readers is on the line.

For Google, the case will test how far it can stretch its fair use exemption under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), with implications beyond the printed word.