Revised Google Book Settlement

On Friday, some important modifications were made to the proposed Google Book Settlement that is supposed to end a class action lawsuit by U.S.-based author and publisher groups over Google's plans to make and sell digital copies of millions of books.

One of the major concessions made by Google is that the settlement would now apply only to books registered with the U.S. Copyright office or published in the U.K., Australia, or Canada.

The Book Rights Registry board, the entity that will be responsible for paying authors and publishers, would also be required to search for copyright holders who have not yet come forward and to hold revenue on their behalf. Much of the controversy about the original deal focused on what many critics see as Google's monopoly on so-called “orphan works” — out-of-print books that are still protected by copyright but whose writers' whereabouts are unknown.

The ResourceShelf has fairly comprehensive analysis and commentary on the proposed changes.

Earlier Library Boy posts about the dispute include:

• Google Settles Lawsuit With U.S. Authors and Publishers (October 28, 2008)
• Google Book Scanning Project Settlement: More Reaction and Analysis (February 23, 2009)
• Association of American Publishers on Recent Google Book Project Settlement (February 24, 2009)
• Controversy Heats Up Over Google Book Search Settlement (August 24, 2009)
• How To Find Court Filings in the Google Book Settlement (September 8, 2009)
• Google Book Search Bibliography (September 14, 2009)
• Google Book Scanning Court Hearing Postponed (September 22, 2009)
• American Library Associations Publish Summary of Google Books Litigation Court Filings (October 6, 2009)
• American Library Association Website on Google Book Settlement(October 26, 2009)