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Opting Out of the Google Books Settlement, Pro & Con
Here are diametrically opposing view on what authors should do about the upcoming deadline to opt out of the Google Books settlement. Miracle Jones writes "The William Morris Agency has come out strongly against the Google Books settlement for its clients, citing the fact that the settlement creates a non-competitive marketplace for a whole new product (orphan books), in addition to containing provisions that will make it impossible for writers to remove books from the database after 27 months have passed: 'We believe that the license being given to Google to publish and display with impunity out-of-print "orphan" works (where the rights owner is unknown and estimated by the Financial Times to be between 2.8 and 5 million books out of 32 million books protected by copyright in the United States) will open the door to establishing Google as the most comprehensive database, potentially a monopoly, with unfair bargaining power.'" On the other side of the debate, James Gleick writes "With the deadline approaching for 'opting out' of the Google Books settlement, the Authors Guild has posted an aggressive explanation of who it thinks should do that: no one. Not a single author in the world, it argues, stands to benefit from removing himself or herself from the class. This comes as part of a new set of 'Answers' meant to push back against what the authors group thinks is widespread confusion about the settlement; they also address questions about just what kind of money we might be talking about, and what kind of control authors will have over Google's use of their work."
With the deadline approaching for 'opting out' of the Google Books settlement, the Authors Guild has posted an aggressive explanation of who it thinks should do that: no one.
Actually what they said specifically is:
Opting out of the settlement is for authors who want to preserve their right to sue Google themselves. We donâ(TM)t think there are any such authors.
Oh how they doubt the litigious desire of some people that believe their works turn the paper they're printed on to gold.
My work here is dung.
Well, you could say that it doesn't affect your rights directly, only in so far as those rights are no longer as exclusive as they were. It grants additional rights to the defendant, Google, which is unusual in a lawsuit.
Gutenburg wants to be able to scan orphaned works too. They have been campaigning legally for years. Gutenburg isn't a billion dollar advertising agency so can't afford the lawsuit that google pulled off. But now they are watching in horror as Google gets an exclusive deal meaning non profits such as Gutenburg and other libraries and archives are locked out. The law will never change now because congress will argue the problem is solved - Google is running it.
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. --Albert Einstein
This sort of power over books should not be in the hands of any single company.
I don't mean to be snarky, but nothing is stopping you from competing against them. In fact, if Google defends itself from the lawsuits that will probably follow, they may lead the way for other companies to try to provide the same service. I, for one, look forward to having access to millions of books. If they try to do anything along the lines of censorship (like you fear) another company will swoop in and provide a better service.
Yes. That's how class actions usually work. But it's a pretty serious abuse of process in this case, IMO.
the law doesn't give any rights to anyone to take a work that isn't theirs.
Legally, the issue may be the underpinnings of class action lawsuits. The thought is that it would be detrimental to the legal system to have thousands of different suits all on the exact same subject. So instead of tying hundred of judges for years on the single issue, the concept of "class action" was created, where by a single suit if brought on behalf of a class of people. There's no particular requirement needed to be the initiating claimant in a class action lawsuit - anyone can do it, as long as the judge agrees to make it a class action suit. To make this work efficiently, once a class action suit is announced (and there are legal requirements for adequate notification of involved parties), there is a short period of time when members of the class can opt-out. If they don't, they're legally bound by the result of the class action suit, and can't litigate separately.
I don't know for a fact, but I suspect that's what's happening here. The Author's Guild instigated a class action lawsuit on behalf of the authors. They don't need to be in a special position to get class action status, they just need to get the judge to agree that the judicial system will be better off with this being class action as opposed to thousands of independent lawsuits. That's the opt out we're seeing - the opt out to being counted as part of the "class". Opting out just means that you're not bound by the terms of the lawsuit - but Google isn't either. There free to continue as they have been, and if you want to make them stop, you'll have to bring your own, separate lawsuit, with all the costs and hassles that entails.
So I doubt they're will be many "the Author's Guild doesn't represent me" lawsuits, or if there is, the judges will toss them quickly, citing the valid legal status of class action lawsuits.
Oh, yeah: standard IANAL disclaimer.
Does this Settlement cover Books published in 2009?
A lot of people aren't understanding this bit. You have to opt out of class action lawsuits. It may not seem fair, but it's a compromise. Class-actions are one of the more pro-little-guy elements of civil law we have in the US, giving lawyers huge heaping incentives to punish abusive large entities that we wouldn't be able to attack on our own.
Here's the relevant section from the wikipedia article:
Due process requires in most cases that notice describing the class action be sent, published, or broadcast to class members. As part of this notice procedure, there may have to be several notices, first a notice giving class members the opportunity to opt out of the class, i.e. if individuals wish to proceed with their own litigation they are entitled to do so, only to the extent that they give timely notice to the class counsel or the court that they are opting out. Second, if there is a settlement proposal, the court will usually direct the class counsel to send a settlement notice to all the members of the certified class, informing them of the details of the proposed settlement.