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Authors, publishers, and Google reach landmark settlement
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) reports that a groundbreaking settlement has been reached in the US, after two years of negotiation to settle two class actions brought against Google.
Google Book Search was launched in 2004 to digitise, search and make available copies of copyright books held at participating libraries, without the permission of the copyright owners.
Under the agreement between The Authors Guild, the AAP and Google, Google will pay US$125 million to establish a not-for-profit Book Rights Registry to resolve existing claims by US rights holders and to cover legal fees.
The Book Rights Registry is intended to administer rights holder information and distribute future revenue generated.
The agreement is expected to benefit rights holders, as well as readers and researchers who will gain free online access to potentially millions of searchable works, including out-of-print books.
Additional libraries are expected to participate under the new arrangement.
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