[x-pubpol] Google and Book Publishers settle scanning lawsuit

[Joly MacFie]

http://paidcontent.org/2012/10/04/google-and-publishers-settle-book-scanning-lawsuit/

Details of the settlement are confidential, but a Google executive revealed
in a phone interview with paidContent that the company “has very robust
plans to increase analytics” with publishers. This is significant because
publishers have long been frustrated by Amazon’s unwillingness to share
data like customer profiles and buying habits.

The deal amounts to formal recognition of a process that was occurring
already, in which Google and individual publishers were reaching deals. The
Google partnership is helpful to the publishers because, in many cases, it
will give them access to digital versions of their backlist.

The deal between Google and the publishers is likely, however, to anger the
publishers’ one-time partner, the Authors Guild. Unlike the publishers, the
Guild decided last December to review its original 2005 class action claim
after Judge Denny Chin blew up a controversial three-way settlement deal in
the spring of 2011.

Today’s development is also likely to further complicate disputes between
authors and publishers over who owns the digital rights to books published
in the pre-digital era.

The Google-publisher deal does not  resolve the question of whether
Google’s book scanning amounted to copyright infringement. The company is
adamant that the scanning qualifies under the “fair use” exemption, while
the Authors Guild is demanding it pay $750 per
book<http://paidcontent.org/2012/08/09/googles-pain-if-it-loses-the-book-scanning-case-hint-less-than-you-think/>.
Scholars and activists like the Electronic Frontier Foundation have filed
briefs<http://paidcontent.org/2012/08/17/google-books-judge-lets-librarians-eff-weigh-in-on-authors-guild-case/>
to
support Google’s fair use argument. The case is now on
hold<http://paidcontent.org/2012/09/17/appeals-court-halts-proceedings-in-google-books-case/>
as
an appeals court decides whether it should have gone forward in the first
place.

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