Demonopolizing the European Public Domain: Google Books Exclusivity Clauses and the Open Data Directive download
Abstract
This report is the result of a collaboration between Open Future and the Glushko & Samuelson Information Law and Policy Lab at the Law Faculty of the University of Amsterdam. Open Future is interested in understanding the evolving landscape around the use of public domain and openly licensed works for the purpose of training Generative AI systems. One of the largest sources of such data are the digitization partnerships between a number of European libraries and Google that were launched from 2010 onwards. These digitization partnerships were controversial at the time because they contain clauses that ensure that Google enjoys an exclusivity period with regard to commercial use of the digitized works. As a result, Google has a privileged position when it comes to access to large swaths of the European public domain. In the context of the emergence of generative AI as a new technological paradigm, access to this data likely constitutes a signicant competitive advantage that is hard to reconcile with both the public domain status of these collections and policies aimed at providing a level playing eld for smaller and European AI developers. In April 2024, Open Future approached the Information Law and Policy Lab with a request to examine the legal status of the datasets produced by the Google Books project in regard to their exclusivity clauses.
Bibtex
Report{nokey,
title = {Demonopolizing the European Public Domain: Google Books Exclusivity Clauses and the Open Data Directive},
author = {Arends, A. and Bont, A. de and Rosenberg, M.},
url = {https://www.ivir.nl/publications/demonopolizing-the-european-public-domain-google-books-exclusivity-clauses-and-the-open-data-directive/241127_demonopolizing-the-european-public-domain/},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-11-14},
abstract = {This report is the result of a collaboration between Open Future and the Glushko & Samuelson Information Law and Policy Lab at the Law Faculty of the University of Amsterdam. Open Future is interested in understanding the evolving landscape around the use of public domain and openly licensed works for the purpose of training Generative AI systems. One of the largest sources of such data are the digitization partnerships between a number of European libraries and Google that were launched from 2010 onwards. These digitization partnerships were controversial at the time because they contain clauses that ensure that Google enjoys an exclusivity period with regard to commercial use of the digitized works. As a result, Google has a privileged position when it comes to access to large swaths of the European public domain. In the context of the emergence of generative AI as a new technological paradigm, access to this data likely constitutes a signicant competitive advantage that is hard to reconcile with both the public domain status of these collections and policies aimed at providing a level playing eld for smaller and European AI developers. In April 2024, Open Future approached the Information Law and Policy Lab with a request to examine the legal status of the datasets produced by the Google Books project in regard to their exclusivity clauses.},
}