Authors Guild

Google Book Settlement Gets Preliminary Approval; Hearing in 2010

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 20, 2009 - 11:02am.

New York - The judge overseeing the settlement agreement between Google (NASD: GOOG) and authors and publishers over the direction of its massive book-scanning project has pushed a hearing on a revised settlement back to Feb. 18, while at the same time granted preliminary approval to the new deal. "The preliminary approval order sends a positive initial message; this agreement promises to benefit readers and researchers, and enhance the ability of authors and publishers to distribute their content in digital form," Google said in a statement.

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.

Google Book Settlement Parties Ask Court for Extension

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 9, 2009 - 9:47am.

New York - Facing a deadline to submit a revised settlement agreement on Monday, attorneys hammering out a new deal between Google (NASD: GOOG) and authors and publishers over Google's massive book-scanning project have asked the judge for an extension until Friday, The New York Times reports.

Google Book Settlement Hearing Rescheduled for Nov. 9

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 7, 2009 - 9:29am.

New York - The judge overseeing the proposed settlement between Google (NASD: GOOG) and authors over the company's creation of a digital books archive has set a new hearing date of Nov. 9 to discuss a revised settlement plan, the Associated Press reports. A hearing had been scheduled for Oct. 7, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin agreed to a postponement in light of criticism from the Justice Dept. and others in opposition to the deal as it was structured at the time.

Judge Postpones Hearing on Google Book Settlement

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 28, 2009 - 6:45am.

New York - The judge overseeing the contentious settlement between Google (NASD: GOOG) and the Authors Guild on Friday delayed a planned Oct. 7 hearing indefinitely, as the two sides confer with the Justice Department to alter the deal to allay a range of concerns. "The current settlement agreement raises significant issues, as demonstrated not only by the number of objections, but also by the fact that the objectors include countries, states, nonprofit organizations and prominent authors and law professors," U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin wrote in his ruling.

Authors Ask for Google Book Settlement Hearing Delay

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 23, 2009 - 8:28am.

New York - The Authors Guild has petitioned the federal court handling its settlement with Google (NASD: GOOG) over the company's ambitious book-scanning project to postpone a hearing on the settlement scheduled for Oct. 7, saying the two parties wish to work with the U.S. Department of Justice to overcome its concerns with the deal. On Friday, the Justice Dept. lodged its official opposition to the deal in its current form, and made suggestions for specific changes that could help bring approval of the settlement.

Justice Dept. Opposes Google Book Settlement in Current Form

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 21, 2009 - 7:22am.

Washington - The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday urged the court overseeing Google's (NASD: GOOG) settlement with authors to reject the deal in its current form, "due to concerns of the United States regarding class action, copyright and antitrust law." The Justice Dept. said that "the partied should be encouraged to continue their productive discussions to address those concerns."

U.S. Copyright Office Voices Concerns on Google Book Deal

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 10, 2009 - 8:42am.

Washington - The U.S. Copyright Office has voiced its opposition to the proposed settlement between Google (NASD: GOOG) and the Authors Guild that would enable Google to greatly expand its massive book-scanning project, Reuters reported. U.S. register of copyrights Marybeth Peters told a House Judiciary Committee hearing that the settlement would "alter the landscape of copyright law," and "bind authors, publishers, their heirs and successors to these rules, even though Google has not yet scanned and may never scan their works."

Amazon Assails Google Book Deal; Google Trots Out Backers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 3, 2009 - 8:13am.

Mountain View, Calif. - Google (NASD: GOOG) on Thursday held a conference call with reporters during which a group of professors and civil rights leaders voiced support for the company's book-scanning project and settlement deal with authors, The Wall Street Journal reported. They argued that the digital book archive will help "bridge the digital divide" for students. Participants on the call included Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights; Chris Danielson, of the National Federation for the Blind; and Lateef Mtima, director of the Institute of Intellectual Property & Social Justice at Howard University.

Germany Opposes Google Book Settlement with Authors

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 2, 2009 - 8:21am.

Washington - The German government has filed a brief opposing Google's (NASD: GOOG) landmark settlement with authors over works appearing in its massive book-scanning project, saying the deal would violation foreign copyright and privacy protection laws, Reuters reports.

Academic Authors Seek Changes to Google Book Settlement

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 17, 2009 - 2:58pm.

New York - A group of academic authors and professors within the University of California network believes that Google's (NASD: GOOG) settlement with authors over the use of works in its book-scanning project does not take their interests into consideration, The New York Times' Bits blog reported.

NYT: Justice Dept. Steps Up Probe Into Google Book Settlement

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 10, 2009 - 8:42am.

San Francisco - The U.S. Justice Department has intensified its antitrust investigation into Google's proposed settlement with authors and publishers over its digital book-scanning project, sending formal requests for information to Google (NASD: GOOG) and others involved in the dispute, The New York Times reported.

Justice Dept. to Probe Google Book Settlement With Authors

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 29, 2009 - 7:30am.

Washington - The U.S. Justice Department has launched an antitrust probe into the settlement being negotiated between Google (NASD: GOOG) and authors over the company's book-scanning service, The New York Times reported, citing two people briefed on the matter. Justice Department lawyers have reportedly been in conversations in recent weeks with groups that oppose the deal, such as the Internet Archive and Consumer Watchdog.

Group to Protest Removal of Text-to-Speech From Amazon Kindle

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 2, 2009 - 9:03am.

New York - An advocacy group called the Reading Rights Coalition, which represents millions of disabled people who cannot read print, said on Thursday that they are planning a protest outside the Authors Guild headquarters in New York over the threatened removal of the text-to-speech feature in Amazon.com's (NASD: AMZN) Kindle 2 e-book reader device.

Authors: Amazon Kindle's "Text-to-Speech" Infringes Copyright

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 12, 2009 - 11:08am.

Seattle - The Authors Guild on Thursday put out an alert to its members on the new "text-to-speech" feature on Amazon's (NASD: AMZN) Kindle 2 e-book reader device, arguing that it violates their copyrights and could hurt audiobook sales. Unlike an audiobook, though, the Kindle feature converts the text to audio using an on-board computer-generated voice, rather than using a recording of the author's or a celebrity reader's voice.

Google Settles With Authors, Publishers; Will Pay $125M

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 28, 2008 - 7:59am.

New York - Google (NASD: GOOG) on Tuesday announced a landmark settlement agreement with authors and publishers over its mammoth book-scanning project, which calls for the company to make payments totaling $125 million, and will grant Google significantly expanded access to published works. Reached after two years of negotiations, the agreement will resolve both a class action copyright lawsuit brought by book authors and the Authors Guild, and a separate lawsuit filed by five large publisher members of the Association of American Publishers (AAP).

Authors Guild Sues Google for "Massive Copyright Infringement"

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 21, 2005 - 9:04am.

New York -- The Authors Guild, a trade union for published authors, announced on Wednesday that it has filed suit against search engine firm Google in federal court, claiming the company's Google Library program that scans books into its index amounts to "massive copyright infringement." The Google Library program aims to scan the text of thousands of books in the public domain into its index, so that users may read them for free online; the company has also partnered with numerous libraries to scan their texts, offering restricted page viewing and prohibiting printed copies from being made. After initial criticism from some publishers, Google now allows them to opt out if they choose not to have their works indexed. "This is a plain and brazen violation of copyright law," said Authors Guild president Nick Taylor. "It's not up to Google or anyone other than the authors, the rightful owners of these copyrights, to decide whether and how their works will be copied." The lawsuit, which seeks damages and an injunction to halt further infringements, was filed on behalf of authors Herbert Mitgang, Betty Miles and Daniel Hoffman -- who were not consulted by Google before their works were included in the Google Library project by the University of Michigan's library. "We regret that this group has chosen litigation to try to stop a program that will make books and the information within them more discoverable to the world," Google said in a statement.

Google Book Settlement Gets Preliminary Approval; Hearing in 2010

Google, Authors Submit Revised Book Settlement to Court

Google Book Settlement Parties Ask Court for Extension

Google Book Settlement Hearing Rescheduled for Nov. 9

Judge Postpones Hearing on Google Book Settlement

Authors Ask for Google Book Settlement Hearing Delay

Justice Dept. Opposes Google Book Settlement in Current Form

U.S. Copyright Office Voices Concerns on Google Book Deal

Amazon Assails Google Book Deal; Google Trots Out Backers

Germany Opposes Google Book Settlement with Authors

Academic Authors Seek Changes to Google Book Settlement

NYT: Justice Dept. Steps Up Probe Into Google Book Settlement

Justice Dept. to Probe Google Book Settlement With Authors

Group to Protest Removal of Text-to-Speech From Amazon Kindle

Authors: Amazon Kindle's "Text-to-Speech" Infringes Copyright

Google Settles With Authors, Publishers; Will Pay $125M

Authors Guild Sues Google for "Massive Copyright Infringement"

Upcoming DMW Events

DMW 100 Financial Index

Recent comments

Navigation

User login

Ads

Contributors

DMW Columns

Content by Type

Translate Site

Daily Newsletter and Networking

Latest Top Stories

DMW Widget - Grab it and embed!

Latest Briefly Noted

Poll

Our Sponsors

Other Ads

Our Publications