Google, Authors Submit Revised Book Settlement to Court

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 16, 2009 - 11:49am.

New York - A revised settlement agreement was submitted on Friday, in the closely-watched case of Google (NASD: GOOG) and the authors who sued the company over the details of its plans to scan the world's books into a digital index. The revised settlement addresses many key issues raised by the U.S. Justice Dept., copyright and consumer advocates, although some concerns remain. Under the agreement, the scanning of out-of-print books will now be limited to works published in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia.

A Book Rights Registry will pay authors and publishers, as well as seek out copyright holders for "orphan" works, and hold any revenues on their behalf. An independent fiduciary will then decide the fate of unclaimed monies.

The revised settlement also limits the revenue Google may generate from the project to individual subscriptions, print-on-demand services, and paid digital downloads.

Authors will also be able to offer their works for free via Creative Commons license, and loosen restrictions placed on how many pages may be viewed through Google.

"The changes we've made in our amended agreement address many of the concerns we've heard (particularly in limiting its international scope), while at the same time preserving the core benefits of the original agreement: opening access to millions of books while providing rightsholders with ways to sell and control their work online," Dan Clancy, engineering director for Google Books, wrote on the company's blog.

Despite the parties' efforts to address concerns with the initial version of the settlement, The Wall Street Journal cited sources familiar with the matter as saying the Justice Dept. "remains concerned that the fact the settlement gives Google immunity from lawsuits related to orphan works may be anticompetitive."

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/t9ntt (Google blog post)

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10397787-93.html

http://snipurl.com/t9nvo (WSJ)

http://www.googlebooksettlement.com/