Google, Authors Guild Reach Settlement - The Future of Book Search
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It's worth noting that books will be treated differently depending upon how the copyright holders want them handled. For instance, when I searched for the classic opening line to Moby Dick -- “Call me Ishmael” -- and clicked on my choice, I came to a page that was clearly marked “copyrighted material” at the bottom, and in the right pane was a notice that the page was being displayed with permission from the publisher, Kessinger Publishing. Google included a direct link to the publisher – a nice touch. I could still do many of the things I could do with A Tale of Two Cities, but not all. I couldn't download it, for example, which is not surprising, since as far as I know, it's still in copyright. But I could add it to my library for reading.
I might do a fuller review of Google Book Search if there's interest after the settlement goes through. Right now, though, I'd like to talk about how this affects the way Google will handle the digitization part of the project, as well as the way users will view books. Basically, Google's approach – or, more precisely, the settlement -- divides books into three categories: in-copyright and in-print; in-copyright but out-of-print; and out-of-copyright books.
Books that are in-copyright and in-print are still being actively sold by publishers; you can find them at bookstores. The “preview” and “purchase” options available through Google Book Search make them even more accessible. It seems likely that books that are in-copyright and in-print won't be available for download.
Books that are in-copyright but out-of-print aren't being actively published or sold; they can usually be found only in libraries or used bookstores. This is where the settlement can really benefit authors. According to Google, “When this agreement is approved, every out-of-print book that we digitize will become available online for preview and purchase, unless its author or publisher chooses to 'turn off' that title.” It should “enable authors and publishers to earn money from volumes they might have thought were gone forever from the marketplace.” This is the long tail in action.
As for out-of-copyright books, Google will continue to let Book Search users read, download, and print them.
What are Google's future plans for Book Search? Arguably, this project is dramatically in line with its mission, which it insists is still “to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.” The company hopes that Book Search “will evolve into a service that ensures that books, along with their authors and publishers, will flourish for many years into the future.”
It's impossible for a book lover like me to disagree with this sentiment. Certainly, using the service won't replace buying books in the dead tree edition; many traditional books are still readable decades or centuries later, which is often not true even for a word processing document stored in a 20-year-old format. Here's hoping this settlement proves to be as big a win all around as it appears at first glance.
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