Id like to see google give the book content away - including the ability to mash up. They have enough money to just do it for the greater good, and write it off as advertising / PR budget [while gaining revenue from the searches due to their market dominance]

Along with this I think there needs to be a change in law to match the change in technology - Perhaps creative works should simply fall into the public domain after n years has passed?

Extrapolating... I'm not sure what this means for say LoTR, the Bible and baroque music. Putting religion aside, these have a large place in the social consciousness, so should effectively be owned by the public [yes, not a logical inference]

Hmm.. a Cathedral is clearly a creative work. Perhaps they are already owned by some kind of public trust, in effect [by subsidies]