ONLY FOR PEOPLE WHO LOVE TO READ :p
Google plans to upload millions of books to the internet, including ancient and rare texts, that it says would provide a treasure trove of published works
A US district judge named Denny Chin is on the verge of becoming one of the most important men in the history of publishing. On October 7 in a New York courtroom he will preside over a “fairness hearing” for a deal between Google and US publishers and authors to put millions of books online.
The 55-year-old Hong Kong-born judge presided over the trial of Bernard Madoff, sentencing the fraudster to 150 years in prison. The Google books settlement case is likely to send shockwaves even further afield.
Google yesterday launched a staunch defence of its plans to become the world’s librarian and bookseller. The internet giant is in the middle of a project to scan and index the world’s literary heritage. It has already digitised more than 10 million volumes in more than 100 languages and has agreements with libraries around the world to scan millions more.
Google says that the project will make a treasure trove of forgotten and out-of-print books available to anyone with an internet connection. Critics say that mankind’s “last library” should not be in the hands of a commercial enterprise.
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Judge Chin has been inundated with submissions from technology companies, governments and privacy groups that want to derail Google’s plans to transform the future of the book industry. Under the proposed settlement, Google will establish an independent “Books Rights Registry” in the US that will provide revenue from sales and advertising to authors and publishers.
The settlement, described as the biggest copyright licensing deal in history, was hammered out after American publishers and authors objected to Google’s scanning of books for an online search service without permission.
Under the plan, Google would pay $125 million to settle the lawsuit filed in 2005 — and get the go-ahead for the registry. The system will allow authors and publishers to register works and receive compensation from digital book sales or institutional subscriptions. Authors and publishers would get 70 per cent, with Google keeping the rest.
Because the US book market is the world’s largest, the settlement will establish a de facto worldwide copyright regime.
Google has said it plans to scan at least 32 million in-print and out-of-print books — the number listed in WorldCat, a database of titles from more than 25,000 libraries around the world. The company aims to complete the task within a decade and new books could join the database if publishers agree. Google has already set up partnerships with thousands of publishers to digitise their back catalogues.
Santiago de la Mora, Google’s head of print content partnerships in Europe, called the settlement “a very positive innovation for the market”. “It brings books back to life and creates a new market for books that have been languishing on bookshelves for years. From an author’s point of view, it is a tremendous opportunity to reach your audience again. From a reader’s point of view, it is a tremendous opportunity to find millions of books, preview them and then purchase access to them online,” he told The Times.
Google has been holding meetings across America to rally support and yesterday gathered more encouragement from education and civil rights groups, including the National Federation of the Blind. The European Commission will hold a hearing into the deal on Monday; Tuesday is the deadline for submissions to the US court. European Union antitrust regulators are studying the proposals, as is the US Justice Department.
Critics say that the deal gives Google unimpeded ability to set prices for libraries and hands too much power over the world’s literary heritage to a commercial enterprise. They also say it would allow Google alone to make money from millions of so-called orphan works — books for which there are no clear rights holders.
This week Amazon, which has itself scanned hundreds of thousands of books as part of its online e-book sales programme for the Kindle book reader, joined the protests. In a submission to the court, Amazon said that the proposed deal would constitute price-fixing and violate antitrust law.
Amazon argued that the court ass-essing the proposed settlement was ill-equipped “to balance and to make the adjustments necessary to accommodate the public interests at stake”.
The Authors Guild, which represents many US authors, accused Amazon of “breathtaking hypocrisy”. “It dominates online bookselling and the e-book industry. The settlement would make millions of out-of-print books available again, and Google would get no exclusive rights,” it said.
Microsoft, which has recently given up on its own book-scanning project, and Yahoo! also opposes the plan. This week the German Government posted its objections, stating the deal “flouted” digital copying laws. Microsoft, Yahoo! and Amazon are all part of a group called the Open BookAlliance, formed last month to rally opposition. The New York Library Association and the American Society of Journalists and Authors are involved and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, representing about 1,500 authors, has also joined. Researchers fear that the huge literary database will give Google lucrative commercial opportunities and that the company could restrict open access for academics.
But in Brussels, Viviane Reding, the European Union’s Information Commissioner, has welcomed Google’s project. “It is good to see new business models evolving which could bring more content to consumers,” she said.
Prominent authors have come out on both sides. John Steinbeck’s heirs have objected to the settlement, while the estate of children’s author Dr Seuss has told the court the deal was likely to be a benefit to all.
Mr de la Mora said that accusations of a potential monopoly were wide of the mark. “Publishers worldwide have their own channels, their own sites to sell their books. The internet offers tremendous opportunities for search and discovery of new books,” he said.
In response to privacy concerns, Google yesterday agreed to draw up a new privacy policy covering its digital library and to restrict how it can use its database to target ads at readers.
source: http://business. timesonline. co.uk/tol/ business/ industry_ sectors/media/ article6822739. ece
