by Aggie Villanueva
Google has scanned your book in its entirety for the Google Books Library Project.
Is this the end of our Fair Use and Copyright law protection?
These lofty claims justify Google’s unprecedented scan-before-asking measures. "Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Today, together with the authors, publishers, and libraries, we have been able to make a great leap in this endeavor," said Sergey Brin, co-founder & president of technology at Google. "While this agreement is a real win-win for all of us, the real victors are all the readers. The tremendous wealth of knowledge that lies within the books of the world will now be at their fingertips."
In Copyright? What Copyright? http://newmatilda.com/2009/04/21/copyright-what-copyright Jess Hill reports this last few years’ plummet towards extinction for the writing/publishing industry as we know it, and describes for us the legal battle that brought us to this day in history.
Yesterday, May 5, 2009, was the original deadline for authors to tell Google they can NOT use their illegally scanned books that have already been scanned into the “Google Books Library Project – An enhanced card catalogue of the world's books” http://books.google.com.au/googlebooks/library.html with no permissions sought from any of the millions of violated authors. See Google’s Extended Opt-out Deadline. http://books.google.com/booksrightsholders/
Most of us knew nothing about the deadline. I first learned of it when I received my Photosecrets Blog http://photosecrets.wordpress.com Newsletter today, May 6, 2009, providing an update. There is much legal debate over Google’s actions, but they have so far gotten away with it.
Our only options now result from the vigilance of the Authors Guild. Guild President, Roy Blount Jr. http://www.authorsguild.org/advocacy/articles/member-alert-google.html.explains, “We’re happy to report that our proposal found a receptive audience at Google and at Association of American Publishers and the several publishing houses that had filed a separate lawsuit in October 2005 against Google.
“Reaching final agreement turned out to be not so simple, but today, after nearly two and a half years of negotiations, we’re joining with Google and the AAP and those publishers to announce the settlement of Authors Guild v. Google…. There’ll be at least $45 million for authors and publishers whose in-copyright books and other copyrighted texts have been scanned without permission. ”
See Google’s press release also. http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/20081027_booksearchagreement.html
Though you can only exclude your works from Google’s global library until September, 2009, http://www.googlebooksettlement.com/r/home Jess Hill reports, http://newmatilda.com/2009/04/21/copyright-what-copyright “Copyright holders now have the right to decide whether or not they want to be in Google's online library. For books out of print, copyright holders can opt in or out; for books in print, the publisher must make this decision with the consent of the author.”
Google explains their Book Settlement Cash Payments page, so you can opt-in through 2009. http://www.googlebooksettlement.com/help/bin/answer.py?answer=118722&hl=en#cash_payments Go to Google Book Settlement http://www.googlebooksettlement.com/r/home to create your registry account before it’s too late.https://books.google.com/booksrightsholders/r/new_claimant_info?hl=en&cfe_set_lang=1
Google has also implemented Google Books Partner Program for authors. http://books.google.com.au/googlebooks/book_search_tour/
Google may think they’ve appeased authors/publishers with these addenda; nevertheless Jess Hill’s thoughts have an ominous ring we can all relate to. “Google has more than just thrown down the gauntlet to the traditional business model that gets books from authors to readers. The onus now is on creators to rethink the way they make money before companies like Google decide it for them.”
Keeping you Posted with Recent Updates to this Story
Justice Dept. Opens Antitrust Inquiry Into Google Books Deal
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/technology/internet/29google.html?_r=1&hp
The New York Times
By MIGUEL HELFT http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/miguel_helft/index.html?inline=nyt-per
SAN FRANCISCO — The Justice Department has begun an inquiry into the antitrust implications of Google’s settlement with authors and publishers over its Google Book Search service, two people briefed on the matter said Tuesday…more http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/technology/internet/29google.html?_r=1&hp
New York Law School to Launch Google Book Search Web Site
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6656797.html?nid=2286&source=title&rid=1546787747
By Andrew Albanese -- Publishers Weekly, 5/6/2009 2:39:00 PM
The New York Law School is launching a Web site dedicated to the Google Book Search settlement that will include discussion forums, a comprehensive archive of settlement documents and related commentary, and a tool for users to insert their own analyses and commentary on individual paragraphs of the proposed settlement. The project, dubbed “the Public Index,” is part of the Public Interest Book Search Initiative overseen by NYLS professor James Grimmelmann, an expert who haswritten extensively about the deal. The effort will be staffed by NYLS students and is being underwritten with a grant from Google competitor Microsoft….more http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6656797.html?nid=2286&source=title&rid=1546787747
A GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED:
LIBRARIES AND THE GOOGLE LIBRARY PROJECT SETTLEMENT
Jonathan Band
Policybandwidth
jband@policybandwidth.com
http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/google-settlement-13nov08.pdf
How to Fix the Google Book Search Settlement http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1022&context=james_grimmelmann
By James Grimmelmann
The proposed settlement in the Google Book Search case should be approved with strings attached. 1 The project will be immensely good for society, and the proposed deal is a fair one for Google, for authors, and for publishers. The public interest demands, however,
that the settlement be modified first. It creates two new entities—the Books Rights Registry Leviathan and the Google Book Search Behemoth—with dangerously concentrated power over the publishing industry. Left unchecked, they could trample on consumers in any number of ways.
