Ursula Le Guin gathers writers to fight against Google digital book settlement
As the January 28 deadline approaches for those wishing to opt-out of the Google digital book settlement, author Ursula Le Guin has gathered more than 300 signatures in her fight against the scheme to digitise books.
Le Guin has been vocal in her opposition to the Google book settlement, recently signed by the U.S. Authors Guild, and authors had until January 25 to put their names to the petition, which she plans to send to the judge overseeing the Google settlement case.
“The free and open dissemination of information and of literature, as it exists in our public libraries, can and should exist in the electronic media. All authors hope for that. But we cannot have free and open dissemination of information and literature unless the use of written material continues to be controlled by those who write it or own legitimate right in it,” her petition continued. “We urge our government and our courts to allow no corporation to circumvent copyright law or dictate the terms of that control.” wrote Le Guin in the petition.
The Google book settlement followed legal action by US authors and publishers against Google over its digitisation of works without consent. The search giant reached a deal with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers in 2008, but following objections from groups including the US Department of Justice it amended the $125m (£77.5m) deal, presenting a revised version of the settlement to a New York federal court in November. A final hearing is scheduled for February 18.
It is not all good news for those fighting against the deal though with news that the family of John Steinbeck, the Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning author of Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men, reversed its opposition to the deal.
“While we continue in our belief that what Google did was an imperious act of copyright infringement, it is time to step off the battlefield and evaluate our losses and our gains. When we look at the new conditions of the revised settlement, it meets our standards of control over the intellectual properties that would otherwise remain at risk were we to stay out of the settlement,” wrote Gail Steinbeck in a statement released Friday.
Ireland, India, South Africa, New Zealand, Germany, and France were all exempted from the settlement after objecting to it and Ursula Le Guin would like to see the US do follow the same path.
Posted: January 27th, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: Ursula Le Guin
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