New York — The long-running saga of Google’s effort to digitize the world’s books has finally ended. Google and the American Association of Publishers, whose members are 300 of America’s largest publishers, last week announced a deal that will settle their 7-year-old litigation over digitizing books for Google Books. The settlement would entitle Google access to publishers’ journals and books that are in copyright, for its Google Library project.
In a historic reconciliation, The Association of American Publishers (AAP) and Google said in a joint statement that as a result of the settlement, the Google Library Project will receive access to publishers’ copyrighted books.
Musing over the crux of the matter, the Google Books Library Project is Google’s effort to scan and make searchable the collections of major research libraries. It is part of the Google Books project.
This notable agreement will empower publishers to choose whether their books and journals are digitized for Google’s Library Project. Those who permit their content to be placed online will receive a digital copy for their use. The settlement also allows publishers to make individual agreements with Google regarding the use of their digitally scanned books and journals.
Also, both parties said that U.S. publishers can “choose to make available or choose to remove their books and journals digitized by Google for its Library Project.”
Besides, this settlement does not address the concerns of the Authors Guild, which is in litigation with Google over Google Books.
“The framework of this settlement is for works where the copyright is the publisher’s,” AAP spokesperson Andi Sporkin said in a statement. “You would need to speak to Google about the authors.”
In addition, the deal does not encompasses existing litigation with the Authors Guild. In a statement, Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild, said “the publishers’ private settlement, whatever its terms, does not resolve the authors’ copyright infringement claims against Google. Google continues to profit from its use of millions of copyright-protected books without regard to authors’ rights, and our class-action lawsuit on behalf of U.S. authors continues.”
However, the settlement does bring refreshing moment for all concerned as the statement reads, “We are pleased that this settlement addresses the issues that led to the litigation,” Tom Allen, president and CEO of the AAP, said in a statement. “It shows that digital services can provide innovative means to discover content while still respecting the rights of copyright-holders.”
Basically, Google Books allows users to browse about 20 percent of a book for free before purchasing a digital copy via Google Play. Today’s deal lets books scanned by Google’s Library Project to be included in its store. Participating publishers include McGraw-Hill, Pearson Education and Penguin Group, John Wiley & Sons, and Simon and Schuster.
According to the AAP, the court does not need to approve the deal since “the settlement is between the parties to the litigation.” Terms of the arrangement were not revealed.
Furthermore, “Google is a company that puts innovation front and center with all that it does,” said David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer. “By putting this litigation with the publishers behind us, we can stay focused on our core mission and work to increase the number of books available to educate, excite and entertain our users via Google Play.”
With the settlement under its belt, Google said it would give the public instantaneous access to a vast storehouse of knowledge, but it also said it would sell advertising against the searches. AAP said in its lawsuit that “Google is seeking to make millions of dollars by freeloading on the talent and property of authors and publishers.”
On the other hand, the AAP’s suit followed a similar complaint filed in 2005 by the Authors Guild. That case is on hold following an appellate court ruling last month that the trial can wait until the parties resolve whether plaintiffs can sue as a class.