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The ins and outs of the Google Book Settlement
The families of John Steinbeck and Woody Guthrie have decided to opt in to the revised Google Book Search settlement. Gail Steinbeck, who initially opposed the settlement and Arlo Guthrie, said they would not bring a separate lawsuit against Google. Ms. Steinbeck is the wife of the late John Steinbeck’s son, Thomas, also a novelist.
Meanwhile, opposition to the settlement continues. Author Ursula Le Guin, who resigned as a member of the Authors Guild for “selling authors down the river,” has submitted to the Court an online petition signed by 367 authors against the settlement. In her petition, Le Guin states: “The Google Settlement was negotiated by the Authors Guild, without consultation with any other group of authors or American authors as a whole. The Guild cannot and does not speak for all American writers. Its settlement cannot be seen as reflecting the will or interest of any group but the Guild.
Among the Authors Guild members supporting the settlement are Wally Lamb, Simon Winchester, Beverly Cleary, Amy Tan, Scott Turow, Garrison Keillor and Elmore Leonard.
The objection corner has recently obtained heavyweight support in online retail giant Amazon, Consumer Watchdog, half-a-dozen French publishing houses and the Open Book Alliance. Amazon said the revised agreement violates anti-trust and copyright law and urged the judge to reject it.
British authors have also snubbed Google Books, with JK Rowling and Philip Pullman turning their backs on Google’s new digital library.
Caradoc King, Mr Pullman’s agent, said: “Why should we have to do this because Google decided to set something up which is clearly for the benefit of Google? Google can’t afford to do it without the support of major authors — they have to come back with a better deal.”
Ms Rowling’s lawyer at the Christopher Little agency said that the settlement “purport[s] to change US and international copyright rules”.
Other British authors including Helen Oyeyemi, Kamila Shamsie and Nick Harkaway have signed a petition headed by the children’s fantasy author Ursula le Guin, which argues the settlement “render[s] copyright essentially meaningless”.
The Justice Department has until February 4 to make its views known but the revised deal does not appear to have placated some of its original opponents.
The Google Book Search settlement agreement is the 303-page agreement reached between the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers and Google in October 2008 and recently revised after intervention from the Justice Department. The agreement settles a lawsuit filed against Google for “massive copyright infringement” related to the Google Books Library Project in which hundreds of thousands of titles were illegally scanned by Google. The settlement seeks to develop revenue models to compensate authors and publishers for Google’s digital use of copyrighted books. A fairness hearing is scheduled February 18, 2010.
Posted: February 5th, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: JK Rowling, Latest News, Philip Pullman, Ursula Le Guin
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