IFLA discusses the proposed Google Book Settlement
The proposed Google Book Settlement was on the agenda at the 2009 International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) Conference that took place in Milan late last month. Various speakers contributed to a well-attended panel discussion called “The Google Book Settlement: Love it or leave it.” Jonathan Band of Policybandwidth.com gave an overview of the Google Book Settlement. Band described the Google is scanning a corpus of some 30 million book, of which 20% of these books may be in the public domain, 5% are in print, and 75% are out of print. He emphasized that the settlement focuses on the out of print, in copyright books. The 75% that are out of print is the “the twilight zone,” as it’s extremely difficult to track down many authors. Band explained that the proposed settlement routes around this transaction cost of finding authors of millions of out of print, but in copyright books.
Band explained that the proposed settlement only applies to books that have been published before January 5, 2009, therefore making it a “backward looking” agreement. He also said that the settlement doesn’t apply to periodicals, photographs or inserts. The settlement also applies only to U.S. copyrights. But, as Band clarified, foreign authors may be implicated in the settlement. For example, an Italian author may write a book in Italian and publish the book in Italy, hence an Italian copyright. But, there may also be a U.S. copyright in the book that extends under the Berne Convention.
Band described that the settlement would create a collecting society called the Book Rights Registry. The Registry would collect fees for in copyright, out of print books and distribute the monies to rightsholders who have registered under the settlement. He said that the settlement allows rightsholders to remove books from the settlement, and that the Court in the Southern District of New York still needs to approve it.
Speaking to a largely international audience, Band explained a little about the U.S. litigation device under which the settlement is being brought–the class action. In a class action, claimants bring action on behalf of themselves and others that are in similar situations. Band said that the settlement is binding on all authors and all publishers, which may be “the genius or the absurdity” of it. Perhaps most strangely, the settlement would apply to all absent rightsholders. This has been a major point of contention surrounding the settlement. Band said that the Book Rights Registry will have a board of directors that will be made up of equal parts authors and publishers.
Band went on to explain some of the services that would be enabled if the settlement is approved. These services include expanded book previews, consumer purchase, institutional subscription, and public access service. The services would only apply to U.S. users. Band clarified that the services would apply to those books in the in copyright, out of print category. The default for in print books is that none of these services would be available – only bibliographic info will be displayed, as Google figures that publishers will sign up for the partner program to display and market newly released books.