Google announced today that it has "added the ability to search through more than 200 years of historical newspaper archives alongside the latest contemporary information."
As with its current News service, Google will merely index the content and will not handle content delivery. They will also not charge content owners or consumers for the service.
Some of the content Google will be indexing has entered the public domain, but there is still plenty of content that is still under copyright. Google has announced agreements with The New York Times and Time Magazine to provide archived content for the service, but will also include articles "indexed from the Web without formal arrangements with their publishers".
If you recall, that practice prompted a lawsuit from the Angence France-Presse, alleged that the headline presented with the photo and excerpt constituted the "heart of the matter" and was thus an infringing use. While I can certainly appreciate the merits of AFP's argument, I do still agree with Prof. Patry's analysis that this constitutes Fair Use.
