There seems to still be quite a bit of misunderstanding regarding Google Print and it’s various facets. Mostly people are confusing copyrighted works that publishers CHOSE to include and copyrighted works that were scanned from a library. In general here is a quick overview:

  • Public Domain: Available in full
  • Copyrighted: keywords searched for with small snippets of text around each one. NOT a full page.
  • Copyrighted and submitted by publisher: Full page that has term plus a surrounding page or two. This is supposedly up to the publisher how much but I'm unsure.

You can view screenshots at google if this is still confusing. There’s a post over at SearchEngineWatch that tries to explain once again the difference between these programs and why it’s partially google’s fault for the confusion.

If your confused don’t feel bad, the AAP is just as confused (or using misinformation). USAToday responds with an article entitled “Critics should grasp Google projects before blasting them”. The author actually also gets it wrong by stating that the results show a full page. This is only true for works where google got permission. Ones that are not opted-in don’t even show that.

Hopefully things become clearer for the courts and this misinformation is addressed.