[LIS-Forum] Google settlement opens the Web to millions of books, Mint 30/10/08

shihabudeen kunju shihabudeenkunju at gmail.com
Thu Oct 30 19:12:07 IST 2008


Google settlement opens the Web to millions of books

by jeffrey A. trachtenberg & jessica E. vascellaro

A sweeping $125 million settlement between Google Inc. and the publishing
industry clears the way for the Internet giant to make many millions of
digital books available on the Web, with payments to authors and publishers
for their use.

If approved by a federal court, the deal, struck after two years of
negotiations, will let individuals and institutions buy online access to
copyrighted, out-of-print works through Google, and will provide free online
views of them at public libraries.

Titles that are still in print will be available only if publishers and
authors agree to include them.

"It may be the biggest book deal in U.S. history," said Paul Aiken,
executive director of the Authors Guild. Google has already scanned seven
million books for its Google Book Search program and plans to make many
millions more available. Only Web users in the U.S. will have access to the
new services.

The settlement resolves a copyright-infringement lawsuit against Google
filed by the Authors Guild more than three years ago in U.S. District Court
in New York, as well as a separate suit filed by the Association of American
Publishers on behalf of five leading publishers.

Terms call for Google to pay $125 million to settle claims from authors and
publishers for its earlier digital-scanning efforts, cover legal fees and es

tablish a Book Rights Registry that will oversee the new accord.

The establishment of a registry will enable rights holders—be they
publishers or authors—to register their works and subsequently receive
payment when their titles are used online.
be they publishers or authors—to register their works and subsequently
receive payment when their titles are used online.

"What this does is breathe new life into millions of books without
jeopardizing rights holders," said Richard Sarnoff, chairman of the
Association of American Publishers and cochairman of *Bertelsmann Inc., *the
U.S. holding company of *Bertelsmann AG.*

Books under copyright but out of print will be available for sale in an
online version unless the rights holder objects.

The deal signals that Google, which has long argued it can index content for
its search en

gine without the cooperation of media companies, is taking a more
conciliatory stance. But Google cautions against applying the same model to
similar disputes, including *Viacom Inc.s *$1 billion copyright-infringement
suit against Googles online-video service YouTube.

"I would not read anything into the structure," said David Drummond, Googles
senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer.

With the agreement, Google is taking a rare step into the business of
selling access to media content. Google will enhance its book-search
product, which has struggled to gain traction, with a storefront where
consumers can buy titles to read online.

Prices will be set by the publisher or by a Google-designed algorithm, with
the rights holder getting 63% and Google getting 37% of the revenue.

The move breaks with Googles usual approach of selling advertising against
digital content and sharing that revenue with partners like newspapers and
media companies.

It also brings Google into potential competition with digital-book retailers
like *Amazon.com Inc.*

"Its a new model for us," said Mr. Drummond, who nonetheless played down any
competition with Amazon, noting that Googles main objective is to build a
better search product. Amazon declined to comment.

Public libraries will be offered a free online portal to view the digitized
titles, while colleges and universities will be offered a subscription-fee
service that will enable students to access these books directly from their
dorm rooms.

The registry to determine payments to authors and publishers will be an
independent board, initially appointed half by the Authors Guild and half by
the Association of American Publishers.

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