Re: Authors, publishers, settle suit with Google

["Harper, Georgia K" <gharper@austin.utexas.edu>]

It's nice when you don't have to worry about the orphan works, 
works that are out of print that even their owners don't have 
copies of, works whose ownership is biterly disputed as between 
authors and publishers, little things like that.

Georgia Harper
Scholarly Communications Advisor
University of Texas at Austin Libraries
512.495.4653 (w); 512.971.4325 (cell)
gharper@austin.utexas.edu


On 11/4/08 4:52 PM, "Joseph J. Esposito" <espositoj@gmail.com> wrote:

Concerning "the almost impossible task" referenced here:

I am currently workling with a tech company that is getting
publishers to agree to make their content available.  We get new
publishers signed up every week.  We have taken a
publisher-friendly approach (no invocation of fair use rights, to
cite one example), and publishers seem to be very pleased with
progress thus far.  Everything is "opt-in," everything is
presumed to be under copyright.  There are no secret agreements,
no NDAs.

Prior to Google's announcement of its library digitization
project, publishers were flocking to join Google's book program.
It was entirely opt-in.

The notion that the only way to digitize these materials is to do
it Google's way, with a team of lawyers, is belied by the facts.

Joe Esposito

----- Original Message -----
From: "Lesley Harris" <lesleyeharris@comcast.net>
To: <liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2008 3:29 PM
Subject: Re: Authors, publishers, settle suit with Google

> The Registry which will be seeded by Google funds but run
> independently will supposedly be open to all who want to
> digitize books, so rights will be centralized (unless authors
> opt out). This means that any other digital entrepreneurs may
> also undertake digitization projects.  Without this registry,
> other entrepreneurs would either be faced with a law suit like
> Google was in 2005, or obtain rights from individual rights
> holders whose works they want to digitize -- an almost
> impossible task. So yes, Google has a lead on this -- for out
> of print books still in-copyright -- but the door is not shut
> to others.  (There are many practical, management, future
> funding, and control issues relating to the Registry which I'm
> sure will be topic of many discussions should the settlement be
> accepted by the district court.)
>
> Lesley Ellen Harris
> lesley @ copyrightlaws.com
> www.copyrightanswers.blogspot.com