I think that's not quite the law itself, but the corporate misuse of it.

Oh yes, absolutely. Nothing wrong with a decent copyright law itself. As long as it doesn't get abused and stretched and stretched and streeeetched way beyond what it was originally intended for.

I don't know the deal with Googlebooks or the finer points of US law about that, but I do know Google doesn't (yet?) sell to non-US territories at the moment. Alas, I'd add. I do want to pay for my books but apparently very few people actually want my money...!

they really need to stop ignoring & insulting their customers

And yes, that would be a very good place to start.