Settlement In Google Lawsuit Appears Near
by Andrew Albanese & Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 10/9/2008 7:56:00 AM
Nearly three years after publishers filed a lawsuit against Google over its controversial program to scan books from library shelves, a settlement could be near. Although rumors of a settlement have flared up and died down intermittently over the years, sources this week confirmed for Library Journal and Publishers Weekly that talk of a final agreement has indeed heated up, and one publishing insider with knowledge of the talks confirmed that a settlement announcement was “imminent.” Asked if the broad strokes of a final settlement with Google had indeed been reached, Association of American Publishers spokesperson Judith Platt suggested that the rumor mill was once again starting its run up to Frankfurt, which begins October 15. A Google spokesperson said the company does not comment on speculation.
Publishers filed suit in October, 2005, charging that Google’s deal to scan books from library shelves—including the entire collection from the University of Michigan—and to make them discoverable online via Google Book Search, breached their copyrights. Google has countered that its sweeping plan, which makes only “snippets” of copyright-protected books viewable online, is allowable under fair use. Publishers can also “opt-out” of having their books scanned. The AAP suit, filed on behalf of McGraw-Hill, Pearson Education, the Penguin Group, Simon & Schuster, and John Wiley & Sons, does not seek damages, but an injunction that would essentially declare that Google’s scanning of an entire book still under copyright without permission is infringement. In a separate action, the Authors’ Guild sued Google on similar grounds. It wasn’t clear if the settlement with the publisher will have an impact on the guild’s case.
Despite the ongoing lawsuits, Google’s library scanning efforts have not been deterred over the past three years. The Google Book Search Library project now numbers over 30 partners worldwide, and has scanned over one million books at the University of Michigan alone. The suit has changed how the plan has been implemented, however, with most new partners now scanning only public domain materials, and with most new deals not providing for “a library copy” of the scanned work, a provision publishers strenuously objected.
