Tag Archives: Google Book Settlement

Judge Chin Rejects Google Book Settlement , 22 March 2011.

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The Irish Copyright Licensing Agency, Judge Chin rejects Google Book Settlement – 22 March 2011:

Judge Chin handed down his decision on 22nd March 2011. The first paragraph sets out his opinion that the Amended Settlement Agreement is not “fair, adequate or reasonable” and that it goes too far.

ICLA  Index :  http://icla.ie/index.php?new

” The $125m Google Book Settlement has been rejected by a federal judge in New York.  The settlement would have allowed Google to continue with its project to digitize books and create the world’s largest digital library with the blessing of authors and publishers.

The settlement stemmed from a lawsuit brought in 2005 by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers which argued that Google’s plans to digitize books and provide snippets online violated copyright on a massive scale.

Judge Chin rejected the settlement, saying that it “would simply go too far,” even though “the digitization of books and the creation of a universal digital library would benefit many.” But he also urged the parties to consider revising the settlement. As it stood, Judge Chin wrote, the settlement would give Google a “de facto monopoly over unclaimed works”.  He said that federal lawmakers rather than private entities ought to figure out what to do with those works. “The questions of who should be entrusted with guardianship over orphan books, under what terms and with what safeguards are matters more appropriately decided by Congress than through an agreement among private, self-interested parties.”


American Publishers Association statement
Analysis of the decision from the Laboratorium

 
The Irish Copyright Licensing Agency , Parties to Google Book Settlement ask for Filing Extension:


Authors, Publishers and Google filed a stipulation asking the Court to extend the deadline for filing claims to receive an upfront payment in the Google Book Search Settlement. The current deadline under the settlement, which is being reviewed by the Court, is March 31st 2011. If the extension is granted, authors and publishers will have one year after the Court approves the settlement to make a claim for a cash payment.

 

http://authorsguild.org/advocacy/articles/parties-to-google-book-settlement-ask.html

 

RESOURCES,

Judge Chin’s decision http://thepublicindex.org/docs/amended_settlement/opinion.pdf

Association of American Publishers statement http://publishers.org/main/PressCenter/Archicves/2011_March/GoogleBooksSettlementStatement.htm

Analysis from the Laboratorium http://laboratorium.net/archive/2011/03/22/inside_judge_chins_opinion

Analysis from Columbia University Libraries – Copyright Advisory Office

http://copyright.columbia.edu/copyright/2011/03/22/google-books-copyright-settlement-rejected/

Twitter #GBS

 

 


Thursday 16th April 2009: The Google Settlement

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The Google Copyright Settlement:
Writers must act before May 5th or cede rights to Google

Where: United Arts Club, 3 Upper Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin 2

When: 8 p.m. Thursday 16 April

Cost: Euro 3 members & Euro 5 non-members

The recent Google copyright settlement has extraordinary implications for writers and authors. The printed word and intellectual property has changed forevermore. Authors need to understand what is happening. If writers don’t opt out of the settlement by May 5th, they cede important rights in their work to Google, who will be entitled to copy and sell significant parts of most work published before January 5th 2009.

Get informed now by attending this timely event. Speakers include Irish Times columnist Fintan O’Toole; executive director of the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency Samantha Holman; managing director of O’Brien Press Ivan O’Brien; and Clodagh Feehan, managing director of Mercier Press. It will be chaired by Joe Armstrong, managing editor, Ireland, of Peter Lang academic publishing.

Fintan O’Toole is a columnist, assistant editor and drama critic for The Irish Times. A highly regarded commentator, he recently said of the Google settlement in The Irish Times: ‘As a result of one private court case in the US, the immense power of the digital book will be Google’s to command. No king, no court, no academy, no censor, no dictator has ever enjoyed the level of control over the written word that a private company will have acquired.’

Samantha Holman is the executive director of the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency. ICLA recently sponsored an event to make authors aware of the implications of the Google settlement and to advise authors of what they need to do by May 5th. Ivan O’Brien, managing director of The O’Brien Press, has worked in the family company full-time since 1997 and his interests include IT, production and sales. Clodagh Feehan, managing director of Mercier Press, is the third generation of the Feehan family in the Cork-based publishing house. Joe Armstrong is the managing editor for Ireland of Peter Lang academic publishing.

Places limited. Booking essential: Email irishpen@ireland.com