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$125 Million Settlement In Authors Guild v. Google

Posted by timothy on from the something-had-to-give dept.

James Gleick writes "Authors, publishers, and Google are announcing a huge settlement deal today in their lawsuits over the scanning of millions of copyrighted books in library collections. Google has agreed to a huge payout for books that were scanned without permission, but now they'll be allowed to scan the books legitimately. Most important, they'll be able to put millions of books online, including those still in copyright — not just for searching and not just in snippets. There is a groundbreaking new licensing system meant to make the books as widely available as possible while protecting the authors' copyrights and enabling them to share in the revenue. Some will differ, but personally I think this is a wonderful outcome, for readers and for authors alike."

4 of 238 comments (clear)

  1. at last. its f*ckin 21st century ffs. by unity100 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    books written 50 years ago and already made millions for their writer's grandsons should not be still being used as cow cashes, instead should join the public domain to the common heritage of human civilization.

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    1. Re:at last. its f*ckin 21st century ffs. by east+coast · · Score: 5, Insightful

      In all fairness to Christopher Tolkien, at least he had an active role in his father's estate and actually worked to produce some of the wealth. It's not like he sat on his hands and just let the checks roll in and any Tolkien fan should have a bit of admiration and offer up a little thanks for Christopher and his desire to see his father's work get to the masses. Without Christopher these works would either have been lost or found their way into a private collectors collection for a high price. He certainly didn't need to be as responsible as he is.

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      Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
  2. Re:I can has source material? by ShadowRangerRIT · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When you steal a book, and keep it permanently without compensation, that makes you no better than the Plantation Masters. IMHO.

    Wow. Hyperbole anyone? Last I checked we are not:

    1. Whipping the authors
    2. Raping the authors
    3. Taking their children away
    4. Denying them any personal rights

    In case you weren't aware, you can dislike a particular viewpoint without making strained comparisons to slave holders (or any of the other favorites, e.g. Nazis).

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  3. Re:If it were up to me, yes by Mprx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No, *you* give control of the work to the public domain when you publish. To encourage you and others to give more work to the public domain we give you a temporary monopoly over it. If you want complete control of your writing you should keep it to yourself.