The Hindu : Front Page : Google, publishers reach pact

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Thursday, Oct 30, 2008
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Google, publishers reach pact

SAN FRANCISCO : Settling a legal battle, Google on Tuesday reached an agreement with book publishers and authors that clears the way for both sides to more easily profit from digital versions of printed books.

The agreement, under which Google would pay $125 million to settle two copyright lawsuits over its book-scanning efforts, would allow it to make millions of out-of-print books available for reading and purchasing online.

It outlines the framework for a new system that will channel payments from book sales, advertising revenue and other fees to authors and publishers, with Google collecting a cut.

The deal goes some way toward drawing a road map for a possible digital future for publishers and authors.The settlement, which was subject to court approval, would have the greatest impact on the millions of books that were still protected by copyright but were no longer being printed.

Since 2004, Google has been working with university and research libraries to create digital scans of their collections. Of the approximately 7 million books that Google has already scanned, 4 million to 5 million are out of print.

Google now makes the content of those books available in its book search service but shows only snippets of text, unless it has permission from the copyright holder to show more.

Under the agreement, Google will now show up to 20 per cent of the text at no charge to users. It will also make the entire book available online for a fee. Universities, libraries and other organisations will be able to buy subscriptions that make entire collections of those books available to their visitors.

“This huge body of books that were effectively lost to the marketplace are being rescued,” said James Gleick, the author of five books. The settlement being paid by Google will go in part to establish a digital book registry that will administer the new system. — AP

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