Judge strikes down google book deal

[Texashiker]

For those of you that might have been following this, google wanted to scan million of books - even books that were copyright protected and then publish the books online without the authors permission.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/03/22/industry-us-google-books-antitrust-idUKTRE72L6D920110322

Well, it seems the deal has been struck down.

There has been a lot of debate on how to handle google books scanning of copyright protected material. A lot of authors have cried foul, with many of then makes threats to sue google.

Other people have claimed that google wanted to corner the online book market. The ultimate goal would be to drive online book sites like amazon out of the market.

I use google books as a source for out of copyright books.

 

[CycloWizard]

This shouldn't affect out-of-copyright books. I love having access to all of their books, but I don't see any way it's legit unless they pay some sort of licensing fee per book. Some publishers require authors to sign over the copyright, in which case the author has no leg to stand on outside of whatever they agreed to in their contract.

 

[Texashiker]

but I don't see any way it's legit unless they pay some sort of licensing fee per book.

One example opponents to this google book deal used - was books that are still in copyright, and the author could not be found. From what I understand, the people at google were going to scan and publish the book anyway. If the author showed up later, he/she could request that their book be removed. Which goes against current copyright law. No copyright protected material should be published without first having consent.

I am glad that the judge struck down the settlement. I also hope the justice department files criminal charges on the people behind this whole scheme.

 

[jonks]

I am glad that the judge struck down the settlement. I also hope the justice department files criminal charges on the people behind this whole scheme.

What crime was committed?

Google will still probably go ahead with the public domain books.

 

[Texashiker]

What crime was committed?

Conspiracy to commit copyright infringement.
Conspiracy to break federal law

The people at google know what they are doing is copyright infringement. This is the same thing as the people at google uploading copyright protected material to youtube.

If the FBI arrest people for sharing copyright protected music, why not arrest the people at google for sharing copyright protected books.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Conspiracy to commit copyright infringement.
Conspiracy to break federal law

The people at google know what they are doing is copyright infringement. This is the same thing as the people at google uploading copyright protected material to youtube.

If the FBI arrest people for sharing copyright protected music, why not arrest the people at google for sharing copyright protected books.

I missed something. When did they implement publishing copyrighted books?

 

[RabidMongoose]

I think it's fine to scan the books and make them indexable, but obviously their attempt at this type of unprecedented class action lawsuit with regard to future potential IP infringement was just ridiculous. Good to see that the class action settlement didn't go through.

 

[Texashiker]

I missed something. When did they implement publishing copyrighted books?

Its been all over the net for a couple of years now. google has published copyright protected material, and without the copyright owners permission. If the owner of the content did not want their book published, they had to opt out.

Be sure to read this whole article:

http://www.writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/005572_09022009.html

Article about a publishing company suing google for scanning books - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06/07/france_sues_google/


Google buys ReCaptcha to help digitize books

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/weblife/google-buys-recaptcha-digitize-old-books-and-fight-spam/835


And here is the kicker - Google Espresso promises on-demand book printing. Once google has digitized the books, people can have them printed out.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...spresso-promises-on-demand-book-printing.html