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Google allows you to retain copyright over your content. That's great. So if you send a copy of your manuscript to your publisher using Chrome, you technically will always be "the owner." You can still earn royalties from your content, and enter into contracts with publishers or other parties that want to license your content.

But Google will still have a "perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive licence to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through" the browser.

Usually, when we own rights to something, it gives us the power to do all those things without being bothered by someone else.

So in layman's terms, this essentially makes them "co-owner" of your content. They can license it to others, collect revenues (albeit not technically "royalties") from its sale, copy it at will, alter it at will. They don't have to have your permission to do any of this.

And that's just the intellectual property side. Forget about privacy with regard to your personal life or with regard to trade secrets.




They actually don't have the rights to license it to others. They're not co-owners, nor do they pretend to be, hence "You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services."

But their license justly protects them from being sued because you uploaded a video to YouTube that became a hit, and then you decide you want to sue them because they're hosting a video you submitted but now want to charge people for.

You can't have your cake and eat it, too.


According to the Terms, Google has the right to "publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute," your book.

They also have the right to "make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships."

Licensing by any other name.


They do have to have your permission to do any of that - you have to agree to the EULA.




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