The Google Book Settlement: Introduction and Some Background

For those who don't know, Google Books is a Google website / service in which you can search the full text of roughly seven million books.  Google started the (then secret) project in 2002, with the intent to spend billions of dollars scanning books from various libraries, to eventually create a digital Library of Alexandria, where most of the books in existence could be searched.  It is already becoming a great resource, despite its technological and legal challenges.  If you haven't tried it, you should take a minute and run a few searches.

I have been meaning to read the book Google Books Settlement and blog about it ever since it was announced almost one year ago.  However, I'm glad I waited because there is more to sink my teeth into now.  There is a fairness hearing approaching (October 7, 2009) and there have been new developments since last year, as well as extensive commentary both pro and con.  For example, the DOJ has recently announced possible revisions to the settlement by the parties.

Google had been doing this with the cooperation of several libraries—the New York Public Library, Harvard, and Stanford to name a few—but without the permission of the Authors Guild, publishers, or any authors.  Unsurprisingly, in September 2005, the Authors Guild filed a class action lawsuit against Google asserting "massive copyright infringement" on Google's part.  The Association of American Publishers filed a similar lawsuit in October of that year.  Individual authors and publishers joined the suit as well.  Google initially argued that its activities (scanning, indexing, making available on the Web) were fair uses under copyright law.  However, although Google benefits from the defense of fair use in many of its online offerings, in this case the viability of its fair use argument was far less certain.

Last October, Google reached a settlement with the plaintiffs in which Google agreed to pay $125 million and to create an entirely new system for paying authors and publishers revenues on book sales, advertising revenue and other sources of income flowing from Google's operation of Google Books.  Since then, the United States Department of Justice has opened an antitrust investigation of the matter, a coalition of nonprofit groups, library associations, and others has formed the Open Book Alliance in opposition to Google Books, and European publishers and authors have weighed in.  The settlement currently awaits official court approval; the fairness hearing is currently scheduled for October 7, 2009.

According to Jason Schultz, the Google Book Settlement is the biggest copyright licensing deal in history.  It matters, and has garnered my interest, because of its broad-reaching implications for the future of book publishing, copyright law, and our culture at large.  A comprehensive book search is a technology that has been a long time coming and it has the potential to benefit all involved: authors, publishers, and readers.  This settlement could set a precedent (in the non-legal sense of that word) for years to come.  As a copyright law wonk and an avid reader, I find it fascinating.  And I look forward to exploring the settlement and the evolution of Google Books with you here on this blog.