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‘Authors Guild sues Google over library project’
September 20, 2005 | 7:31 pm
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By David Rothman
Details from CNET. Is this really the best use for Guild members’ dues? Oh, come on, guys. Book sales aren’t exactly growing the way they should–and you want to hide your members’ wares? The Guild has done much good over the years, and I hope you’ll come around to the glories of fair use and its role in moving merchandise. Your suit will hurt professional writers. Information Today recently ran a classy apology to Google for missing some important nuances, and perhaps the Guild someday will follow.
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Comments:
I don’t know what the author’s guild does. Is it an organisation for masochists?
I guess the Author’s Guild has never heard of the “long tail”. David- I know you have.
If the Author’s Guild had, they would realize that Google Print will likely provide a tremendous amount of newly-found interest and demand for obscure and out of print titles that are likely gathering dust on shelves. Many of these titles would offer readers very relevant and unique content and reference material.
Google Print would be a dream come true for readers who would find these long tail titles, and merchants like Alibris as well as the publishers and authors would all benefit. I would also venture a guess and predict that used book auctions on eBay and the like would increase in volume. Libraries and brick and mortar used & rare book merchants who listed their inventories online would also be likely beneficiaries as readers find more titles that would otherwise remain undiscovered.
Google Print would be a win-win for everyone who enjoys books.
While I believe that the Google indexing of copyrighted works probably constitutes fair use, I can see how owners of copyrighted works can be worried that the next company to do something similar may end up exceeding the limits of fair use. If the Google Library was structured as either Google owns the books and stores them in a warehouse, or Google was contracted by the libraries for a nominal fee to provide indexing services (even with advertising links), I think the Guild and publishers would have much weaker cases (but then, IANAL).
My guess is that this is really a form of legal extortion, to get Google to settle out of court for a few million dollars, of which the authors in the guild will see pennies (and the guild and its lawyers will get millions). If I were an author or publisher, I’d want the settlement to be something like:
1) An opt-out policy on a copyright owner basis, so that one could opt out if it appears that Google Library is adversely affecting one’s sales.
2) The ability to see the number of queries that found one’s work, and the number of hits to bring up the actual display page.
3) A free advertising link when one’s work is displayed.
4) Some sort of financial recompense.
And only #4 would be my negotiating point.
For someone whose works are currently out of print, Google could be best way to get one’s works back in print by proving interest, even if it’s POD by the author.
“…the glories of fair use and its role in moving merchandise.”
Whose merchandise? The rights-holder’s merchandise or Google’s merchandise? Authors who want exposure can opt-in, like they do at Amazon’s “search-inside-the-book” program. Google expects them to opt-out if they don’t want to help Google’s bottom line. Google has it backwards.