Friday, October 05, 2012

Google and Publishers Settle Long-Running Library Scan Lawsuit

PublishersLunch
Publisher plaintiffs (and AAP members) Pearson, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, Wiley and McGraw-Hill have agreed to settle their seven-year legal battle with Google over the search giant's library scanning project. "The settlement acknowledges the rights and interests of copyright-holders. US publishers can choose to make available or choose to remove their books and journals digitized by Google for its Library Project. Those deciding not to remove their works will have the option to receive a digital copy for their use." The agreement broadly "covers US publishers who can be identified as belonging to one of several publisher associations," AAP head Tom Allen said.

As part of the agreement, books scanned by Google can--with a publisher's permission--be made searchable through Google Books and/or put on sale at Google Play. When publishers receive their digital copy, they are free to put that work on sale elsewhere as well. Google's Tom Turvey says that since the settlement has just been announced, it's "not entirely clear" how many older works are likely to be made available for sale as a result. "We're just beginning the process of signing publishers up," Turvey said, though he notes, "the interesting part is that it leverages the existing agreements Google has in place with thousands of American Publishers for reselling of books through Google Play." Additional terms, including any reimbursement of legal fees or other payments from Google, "are confidential," though presumably if any amount involved is material Google will disclose it eventually. (The rejected 2008 settlement had included $15.5 million for the AAP's legal costs.)

The lawsuit over the same issues brought by the Authors Guild continues, so the settlement resolves only part of this battle. Google svp corporate development and chief legal officer David Drummond says in the announcement, "By putting this litigation with the publishers behind us, we can stay focused on our core mission and work to increase the number of books available to educate, excite and entertain our users via Google Play."

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