Connected to

Google Book Settlement Opt Out Deadline Ends

Google reached the settlement after two years of negotiations with the American Authors' Guild and the Association of American Publishers (AAP) in October 2008. Both organisations had sued Google in 2005 for copyright infringement. In 2004 Google had started to make available digital copies of millions of books from high-profile libraries and incorporated them into their full-text index without clearing the rights. Through Google Book Search they offered full-text-versions of out-of-copyright books - in the US works published before 1923 belong to the public domain - and snippets of titles still under copyright. The plaintiffs argued that Google's scanning of the works was a violation of their copyrights. Although Google Book Search displays only snippets of in-copyright works, the entire texts are scanned. The Authors Guild and AAP claimed that this practice was beyond the ‘fair use' doctrine, while Google responded that it is complying with the ‘fair use' guidelines. The settlement still has to be approved by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York - the Final Fairness Hearing is scheduled for 7 October 2009. The US Department of Justice has recently started an antitrust investigation into the implications of the settlement.

From the very beginning, the settlement has attracted strong opposition from the publishing sector. According to the settlement Google is allowed to sell digital copies of out-of-print books still copyright protected, unless the rights holder objects explicitly.

Authors and publishers who wish to be excluded from the settlement can opt out until 4 September. Rights holders who want their works removed from the digitisation programme can submit a request until 5 April 2011.

The Google Books initiative is controversially discussed at the European Commission. Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding welcomes the discussion between Google and the national libraries of France and Italy on a collaboration agreement which would provide wider access to cultural heritage.

Following the complaints of several EU member states, the European Commission organises an information hearing on the implications of the Google Book Settlement on the European publishing sector on 7 September in Brussels.

Open Book Alliance
Google Book Settlement
Google Book Settlement Information Hearing