Google’s vision of a universal virtual library has hit a snag in court . Google had reached a $125 million negotiation with publishers and authors allowing it to complete the project. But opponents to the project were successful in airing their copyright and antitrust objections. Authors and publishers, which have become allies of Google in the case, said the Google Books judgment made it clear as to what changes must be made to eventually get the negotiation approved.
What Google Books settled on
Google Books is an effort to scan every book ever published and make them available to any person with an Internet connection. The Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers sued Google in 2005 over its book-scanning project. In 2008, Google agreed to pay $125 million up front and provide the means for authors and publishers to get paid any time their novels are viewed online. Many groups argued against the settlement for instance Amazon, Microsoft, the Justice Department, foreign governments and copyright experts making it go to the legal system. Denny Chin is the Manhattan federal court. On Tuesday, he said that it would not be right for Google Books to do this because it would create a monopoly and exploit the works of copyright holders without permission.
The problem that orphan works brings
Judge Chin’s main objection to Google Books was a provision in the Google Books settlement allowing the business to digitize any book unless the author and publisher specifically opt out of the agreement. It would look better, claims Chin, with an "opt in" choice instead. The opt-out provision was written due to an issue with so-called “orphan works.”. Anytime a book has a copyright holder that can't be found or is unknown, it’s an orphan work. An opt-in would make it impossible to use orphan works, Google states. The point of this was for Google Books to be able to contain orphan books to be accessible to anybody. Opponents of the negotiation said the availability of orphan works is a problem best addressed by Congress, not the settlement of a private lawsuit.
You will find antitrust problems to consider
There are over 130 million books being put to the database, states Google. It is just trying to "democratize knowledge" with the program. But the settlement’s opponents also raise antitrust worries, saying no other company is capable of building a library that can compete, freeing Google to gouge customers for access. All the novels accessible to Google Books would leave it always getting used. There is no way anyone would ever be able to beat the business. About 15 million novels have already been scanned by Google during this time. In Google's Book Search, you can discover novels with expired copyrights as well as 20 percent of copyrighted titles. Any copyrighted titles that have not been licensed yet have a sample text available though.
Information from
New York Times
nytimes.com/2011/03/23/technology/23google.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
Financial Times
ft.com/cms/s/2/f7ee4948-54bf-11e0-b1ed-00144feab49a.html#axzz1HR3IHDr1
PC World
pcworld.com/article/222963/judge_rejects_google_book_deal_over_monopoly_concerns.html
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