Google Books Settlement amended

The following resources are from the Center for Intellectual Property's Digital Copyright Listerv; subscriptions available at http://www.umuc.edu/distance/odell/cip/listserv.shtml#digital.


On Friday, November 13, 2009, the parties to the Google Books Settlement filed an amended agreement with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Following are a variety of resources about the latest developments on the topic: Press Coverage; Legal; Overviews.


PRESS COVERAGE

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Google relents with revised digital books settlement.
Washington Post, November 15, 2009.

"In a move to allay its critics and the Justice Department, Google filed in federal court a revised legal settlement that would allow it to distribute millions of digital books online."

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Google backtracks on putting world's books online.
Sunday Times Online, November 15, 2009.

"Google has slashed in half its controversial plans to become the world's biggest online library in a legal move to appease critics, including China, the US Justice Department, authors and publishers."

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Google makes concessions on digital book deal.
Associated Press, November 14, 2009.

"Internet search leader Google will ease its control over millions of copyright-protected books earmarked for its digital library if a court approves a revised lawsuit settlement that addresses objections of antitrust regulators."

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Google, Authors try to answer book deal concerns.
Reuters, November 14, 2009.

"Google and the Authors Guild filed a new version of a deal to create a massive online library on Friday in hopes of answering antitrust and copyright concerns in the United States and overseas."

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Google narrows scope of book-scanning project.
Telegraph, November 14, 2009.

"Google and a group of publishers and authors have agreed to scale back the scope of their proposed digital books library, which could resolve a legal dispute and clear the way for millions of books to be sold online."

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Google submits revised digital book settlement.
Agence France Press, November 14, 2009.

"Google and US authors and publishers submitted a revised settlement to a US judge Friday seeking approval of an agreement that would clear the way for millions of books to be sold online."

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Terms of Digital Book Deal With Google Revised.
New York Times, November 13, 2009.

"Google and groups representing book publishers and authors filed a modified version of their controversial books settlement with a federal court on Friday. The changes would pave the way for other companies to license Google's vast digital collection of copyrighted out-of-print books, and might resolve its conflicts with European governments."

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Revised Google Settlement Offers Minor Changes on Antitrust Issue, No Response on Library Pricing.
Library Journal, November 14, 2009.

"Shortly before midnight last night, Google, the Authors Guild, and the Association of American Publishers released a revised version of the Google Book Search Settlement, with some clear concessions to foreign rightsholders (as noted by Publishers Weekly), a vague-and, to critics, fatally inadequate-concession on orphan works. There was also no response to library concerns about pricing of the potentially monopolistic institutional database-an issue that Google representatives say can't be addressed in the settlement."

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Google Books settlement sets geographic, business limits.
CNET News, November 13, 2009.

"A revised settlement filed late Friday over Google's right to scan digital books places additional limits on the company. The settlement allows out-of-print books from only English-speaking countries to be scanned, restricts the ways that Google can make money from scanning and digitizing out-of-print books, and requires a registry to seek out copyright holders who do not come forward."

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Google Settlement Filed.
Publishers Weekly, November 13, 2009.

"After two delays, attorneys for the AAP, Authors Guild and Google filed an amended settlement agreement late Friday night with Judge Denny Chin in an effort to end litigation brought by the publishers and authors against Google over its library scanning program. As expected by many, the biggest change in the agreement deals with international works. The agreement is now limited to books that were either registered with the U.S. Copyright Office or published in the U.K., Australia or Canada. The parties said that after feedback from foreign rightsholders they decided to narrow the class to include only countries "which share a common legal heritage and similar book industry practices" with the U.S."

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Blog: Google, Content Groups Sign New Google Books Deal.
PC Magazine, November 13, 2009.

"Google and a number of agencies representing book publishers agreed to a revised settlement covering Google Books on Friday, limiting the international scope of the agreement and providing a sort of trust fund for "orphaned" works."

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Google, Authors Limit Reach of Online Book Settlement.
Bloomberg, November 14, 2009.

"Google Inc. and groups of authors and publishers agreed to scale back the international reach of a settlement designed to create a digital book library."

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Google, Plaintiffs Submit Revised Book Search Settlement.
PC World, November 14, 2009.

"Right up against a deadline to submit a revised settlement agreement to a judge overseeing a lawsuit filed against Google by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, the parties filed their second take near midnight on Friday."


LEGAL:

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Blog: Google Book Search Settlement Revised: No Reader Privacy Added.
Posted by Cindy Cohn on DeepLinks (Electronic Frontier Foundation), November 14, 2009.

"Late Friday night the parties to the Google Book Search class action submitted a revised settlement agreement to the federal court in New York that is hearing the case. Unfortunately, the parties did not add any reader privacy protections. The only nominal change was that they formally confirmed a position they had long taken privately that information will not be freely shared between Google and the Registry."

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Blog: Amended Google Book Settlement: Doesn't Deal with Privacy Problems.
ACLU of Northern California, November 14, 2009.

"The Amended Google Book Search Settlement, filed with the Court on Friday, November 13, does not resolve the privacy concerns. The ACLU, along with EFF and the Samuelson Clinic, have been working to ensure that Google Book Search does not become a one-stop shop for government surveillance into the reading habits of millions of Americans and pushing for robust privacy and free speech safeguards to be included in the Settlement provisions."

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Blog: Is the Google Books Settlement Worth the Wait?
Open Book Alliance, November 13, 2009.

"Today, Google, the Authors Guild, and the Association of American Publishers released their revised book settlement proposal in an attempt to fix the deeply flawed legal agreement. Open Book Alliance co-chair Peter Brantley said, 'Our initial review of the new proposal tells us that Google and its partners are performing a sleight of hand; fundamentally, this settlement remains a set-piece designed to serve the private commercial interests of Google and its partners. None of the proposed changes appear to address the fundamental flaws illuminated by the Department of Justice and other critics that impact public interest.
By performing surgical nip and tuck, Google, the AAP, and the AG are attempting to distract people from their continued efforts to establish a monopoly over digital content access and distribution; usurp Congress's role in setting copyright policy; lock writers into their unsought registry, stripping them of their individual contract rights; put library budgets and patron privacy at risk; and establish a dangerous precedent by abusing the class action process.'"

(Members of the OBA include: Amazon; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Council of Literary Magazines and Presses; Internet Archive; Microsoft; National Writers Union; New York Library Association; Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America; Small Press Distribution; Special Libraries Association; and Yahoo)

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Blog: Revised Google Book Settlement Filed & Live Blogging The Press Call.
Posted by Danny Sullivan on Search Engine Land, November 14, 2009.

"As expected, a revised Google Book Settlement has been filed today - about as late as possible. The agreement narrows the scope to the US, UK, Canada and Australia. It alters how revenue generated by "unclaimed works" will be handled. It formally grants retailers who license out-of-print books covered by the settlement - including Google competitors - a 37% share of sales. It also clarifies how the book pricing algorithm will work."

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Blog: GBS: Midnight Madness.
Posted by James Grimmelmann on the Laboratorium, November 14, 2009.

"The amended settlement dropped in the eleventh hour. Here's a redline version and here's the related memorandum with the procedural details.
The best news coverage is the New York Times story; the best blog coverage is Danny Sullivan's. I've just completed a first pass through the amended settlement, tweeting all the way."


OVERVIEWS:

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Overview of the Revised Google Books Settlement Agreement. Association of American Publishers (AAP).

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FAQ Revised Google Books Settlement Agreement. Association of American Publishers (AAP).

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Amended Settlement Filed in Authors Guild v. Google. Authors Guild.

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Modifications to the Google Books Settlement.
Google Public Policy Blog, November 13, 2009.

"Last year, we joined with a broad class of authors and publishers to announce a settlement agreement that would make millions of out-of-print books available to students and readers in every part of the U.S., while forging new opportunities for rightsholders to sell access to their books. Tonight we submitted an amended version of the Google Books settlement agreement to the court."

Utah State University Press to become open access

A statement from Utah State University Press and Merrill-Cazier Library on Monday November 2, 2009 announced that USU will join Rice University and the University of Michigan where their university press has merged with the library and developed an online, open access model of publication.

From the announcement:

USU Press will adopt a new publication model, with open access as a central component and will move toward increased digital delivery of books. The library’s position will be enhanced as well, as academic libraries nationally take on a stronger role in the evolution of scholarly publishing.

“This move directly serves the needs of the university,” Clement said. “Open access allows us to go back to where university presses began — to publish work by all faculty in every discipline.”

At the same time, USU Press remains a refereed scholarly press, with the standards of rigorous peer review appropriate to a university publisher.

In an article by Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Education today he notes that:

For the last nine months, the survival of the Utah State University Press has been in doubt, with fears that deep cuts being made to public higher education in Utah would end up killing off the publishing outlet.
This week comes news that the press will survive -- in part by embracing a new model of organization (becoming part of the university library) and a new business model (embracing open access, in which most publications would be available online and free).

Computers and Composition Digital Press is a USU Press imprint.