Calling the proposed settlement “breathtaking,” “trailblazing” and “audacious,” representatives from the Authors Guild, Association of American Publishers and Google said the end of three years of litigation between the parties will usher in a new period for publishers, authors and Google to generate new revenue streams from books that become part of Google’s search engine. Authors Guild executive director Paul Aiken noted that while Google and authors still have major disagreements over the notion of copyright, it was important to put those concerns aside to forge an agreement that will provide authors with the two things they want most--their books to be read and a good royalty check. Richard Sarnoff of the AAP and Bertelsmann said that by reaching a settlement Google and publishers and authors can do more together to build a business than anything that would have been accomplished by a court ruling.
As part of the $125 million settlement, Google will pay $45 million to settle the class action lawsuit brought by the Authors Guild. Authors whose books have already been scanned will receive at least $60 per work. Another $34.5 million will go toward the creation of a Book Rights Registry that will be responsible for building a database of rightsholders information and for disbursing all money generated through the use of books in Google Products and Services. (The remaining $45.5 million will go to legal and attorney fees). Under the deal, Google will receive 37% of revenue and rightsholders 67%. Publishers and authors will have 120 days to opt out of the settlement once the agreement receives approval from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, something that is expected to take several months. Publishers and authors, including those not directly involved in the lawsuit, will be considered in the settlement unless they opt out. What that means is that Google will have the right to make browsable copies of the books it has scanned through its Library Project as well as books scanned in through its regular Book Search program. After the 120 period, authors and publishers will still have the right to opt out of the program.
Google hopes publishers will want to remain in the program because of the new revenue opportunities afforded by the agreement. Google will offer institutions such as academic and public libraries subscriptions to access its book database; pricing is still being worked, but will generally be along the size of the institution. As part of the deal, however, free, full-text online viewing of millions of out-of-print books at designated computers will be made available through libraries. Users, whether accessing the database at a library or at home, will be able to buy online access to a book or print out books for a per-page charge. Prices can be set by the rightsholder or can be set by a Google algorithm. Currently, Google has no plans to sell hard copies of books, and will stick with its option of offering links to places where a book can be bought. The agreement does give Google the right to add new services such as print-on-demand and consumer subscription services.
Because of the settlement, more of a book’s content will now be viewable at one time. Rather than limiting what appears on a screen to snippets, readers will be able to view up to 20% of a book’s text for out-of-print books. Books that are in-print will have access limited to snippets unless the rightsholder grants permission to expand access. Rightsholders who opt in to the program can maintain control over how much content that want to be made viewable.
The new Book Rights Registry will be overseen by a board of publishers and authors and will be built by Google. Although final approval of the settlement is not expected before the middle of next year, the parties expect to begin building the registry soon. Part of its charter will include mechanisms for solving any disputes that develop among the various parties, something that could arise out of what Aiken called “the biggest book deal in U.S. publishing history.”
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