DoJ Recommends NY Court Reject Google Book Deal

eldavojohn writes "The BBC and others are reporting on the US Department of Justice's recommendation to a New York court that they reject the Google book deal. The deal has received considerable attention, but for the most part it has been negative."

Comments

Only a good thing if

[phantomfive]

This is only a good thing if it leads to a better arrangement. The google book deal is not ideal, but at least it gets the books out there. If as a result of this deal being struck down we have copyright reform (not likely, since at the moment people dying of lack of health care is a significantly bigger issue), then it is good. If as a result of this deal being struck down, a better deal is negotiated with Google (which is possible), then it will still not be ideal. If as a result of this deal being struck down, nothing ends up happening, which is possible, it would be worse for the world.

Re:Only a good thing if

[Rogerborg]

A mechanism for individual authors to register and get paid directly, not for the money to go to a bunch of lawyers who have declared themselves to be working on behalf of those authors.

Exclusivity is the root of all evil in this...

[nweaver]

If the settlement was "any other company may also have the same rights under the same terms", it would be a VERY good deal.

But with the exclusivity, it is very bad. Without the exclusivity, someone else could take the time to do the scanning, and the sales. EG, Amazon, Microsoft, Yahoo, or even a new startup.

But with the exclusivity, you give Google a monopoly over out-of-print books.

Re:Worst summary ever

[zippthorne]

Well, that depends. How long have you been dead and your work out of print?