Columbia Law School Conference about the Google Settlement

["Okerson, Ann" <ann.okerson@yale.edu>]

Of possible interest. Ann Okerson
_________________________________

The Google Books Settlement:  What Will It Mean for the Long
Term?
Columbia Law School
March 13, 2009
8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Google, authors and publishers recently entered into a settlement
agreement in The Authors Guild et al. v. Google Inc., a class
action lawsuit brought against Google in connection with its use
of copyrighted books in its Book Search feature, and in The
McGraw-Hill Companies et al. v. Google Inc., a separate lawsuit
by publishers.  The settlement, if approved by the court, will
provide new opportunities for authors and publishers to market
their works.  It will also enhance the public's ability to search
for books and to get partial text displays (and, in the case of
many older works, full text displays) at home, at school, and in
libraries.  At the same time, the settlement has potentially
significant implications for copyright law, competition, research
and scholarship.

The settlement creates a complicated and comprehensive plan for

*copying copyrighted books in the collections of participating
libraries, including them in Google's database, and displaying
all or part of them under certain circumstances

*deriving revenues from certain uses of the database and from
sales of books

*paying authors and publishers

*creating a Book Rights Registry to facilitate the distribution
of revenues to right holders

*opt out by right holders, as well as a mechanism by which
participating right holders can limit use of their books

*free public access to Google's 'digital library' from public
libraries and universities

The settlement embraces copyrighted works in US libraries,
regardless of whether the rightholders are US or foreign
citizens, unless the right holders opt out, which they must do by
May 5, 2009.

In this full-day conference, we will examine the potential
long-term implications of the Google settlement for the parties,
for other stakeholders (e.g., photographers and illustrators)
whose works are not included in the settlement, and for the
long-term public interest.  Panel participants will include
representatives of publishers, authors, and Google; librarians
and academics and others.

8:30-9:00 Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:00-9:30 Introduction

Welcome; logistics; brief description of the settlement

9:30-10:00 Speaker:  Legislating Through Settlement (Marybeth
Peters, U.S. Register of Copyrights)

What is the potential effect of the settlement on copyright law
(e.g., the settlement's adoption of opt out principles; its
concept of 'commercially available')? What are the potential
implications for the way in which copyright law is made?  Is the
settlement in effect legislation that has bypassed the
legislative process?  Is this a good way to revise the copyright
law, given the difficulty of getting agreement among stakeholders
in recent years?

10:00- 10:30 Speaker:  Antitrust Issues (Professor Randal C.
Picker, University of Chicago Law School)

Does the settlement raise any antitrust issues in respect of
Google's role in the marketplace, the role and operation of the
Book Rights Registry, or in other ways?

10:30-11:00  Break

11:00 - 12:45 Panel:  The Future of 'Books' (June Besek,
moderator)

What will the settlement mean for traditional publishers?  What
will it mean for other online sellers?  For libraries?  What is
likely to happen going forward?  What will it mean for new works?
For works from other countries?

As a practical matter, will there be competition? Will the search
engine and database that result from this settlement become the
principal means of locating and purchasing books (or access to
books)?  Is it likely to become the sole source for some works,
and if so, should that be a matter of concern?

12:45-2:00 Lunch

2:00-3:30 Panel:  Authors and Incentives (Jane Ginsburg,
moderator)

Is the settlement in all authors' interests?  Will authors get
paid fairly?  As a practical matter, do authors have a choice?
Will there be other viable distribution options?  How will the
Book Rights Registry work, and how should it work?  How will
revenues (e.g., from institutional licenses) be allocated?  What
about those whose works are excluded, like visual artists?

3:30-4:00 Break

4:00-5:30 Panel:  The Public Interest (Mary Rasenberger, moderator)

This panel will explore various aspects of the public interest in
the Google settlement, both short term and long term.  Among the
issues to be considered are (1)  Implications of search
engine-as-publisher:  In the past people have used publicly
created research tools.  Does using solely privately-created
tools raise issues? (2) Concerns about potential censorship,
manipulation of search results, and privacy, and (3) Long term
preservation:  Does the settlement provide an opportunity for
comprehensive long term preservation?  Who will/can take
advantage of it?  Will institutions rely on Google?

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