Google Books Settlement Delayed

This is last week's news so you probably already know that the Google Books settlement hearing scheduled for October 7th has been delayed by Judge Chin in response to a motion to delay filed by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers (the plaintiffs).  The motion was not opposed by Google.

Judge Chin felt that, although the settlement would offer many benefits to society, enough well-reasoned objections to the terms of the agreements had been raised by a broad range of interested parties, including the DOJ, various states, other countries, nonprofits, and authors to justify the delay.  Apparently, the parties agree.  The court has received over 400 filings taking issue with some part of the agreement, which is not surprising given its broad sweep. Note too that the agreement is being challenged in French court (in a suit claiming that it violates French copyright law).

I intend to continue blogging about the agreement since, regardless of any delays, there is plenty to learn from the terms of the agreement and its reflection of the state of copyright law and book publishing in this country.  However, October threatens to be one of the busiest months of my life so don't expect a lot of posts on this topic for the next month.

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.

Going from INTJ to INFP on the Myers-Briggs Personality Test

I recently found out that I am no longer a cold, calculating, judgemental jerk.  This is news to me, good news.  Instead of an INTJ on the Myers-Briggs personality spectrum, I am now an INFP.  Hallelujah!  I never identified with the Thinking, Judging aspects of that designation.  I am much happier to know that I am a Feeling, Perceiving person.  This resonates with me and shows that something good did come out of the soul wrenching experiences I had in law school and at the big law firm.

In my transition from geeky software engineer to intellectual property attorney who writes creatively, takes French classes and acting classes, and has started playing guitar again, one thing I've been fascinated by has been what I see as a shift from a mildly autistic and myopic personality to one that is more emotionally sensitive and well-rounded. I have always been a sensitive person on the inside but never let it show.  Feeling trapped by my persona was always frustrating for me. But the important thing is that last week I encountered an illuminating revelation that helps me put this transformation into a framework. I retook the Myers-Briggs personality test and discovered that, in the past ten years, since I last took the evaluation, I have gone from an INTJ to an INFP. This is huge.

Where Is My Mind?

I know you've all been awaiting my thought-provoking and sublime posts here on my shiny new blog.  And I'm sorry to disappoint by not posting anything.  I've actually got about a dozen draft posts in various stages.  But my life has just been too busy lately to polish my drafts for posting.  My ambition has exceeded  the reality of my personal bandwidth.  I'm stilling planning to post here, and on my other blogs.  I intend to squeeze a few minutes of writing time here and there between work, iPhone app development, yoga, and my classes.  But for now you'll just have to wait.