Grimmelmann on Google Book Settlement

[richards1000@comcast.net]

Listmembers may be interested in a new article on the Google Book 
settlement by Professor James Grimmelmann of New York Law School, 
who was a panel member at the March 13 Columbia Law School Google 
Book conference.  See James Grimmelmann, "How to Fix the Google 
Search Settlement," Journal of Internet Law, Apr. 2009, at 1,

http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1022&context=james_grimmelmann

The article suggests some of the ideas that the library 
associations might advocate in their brief to the court, and in 
possible submissions to the Justice Department and the FTC. 
Here is a summary of Prof. Grimmelmann's article:

Professor Grimmelmann recommends in his new article that the 
proposed Google Book settlement agreement be modified before 
court approval, and that the U.S. Department of Justice and 
Federal Trade Commission regulate the resulting transaction. 
Grimmelmann recommends approval of the settlement agreement, but 
only after several modifications.  These include:

*striking the "most favored nation" clause (section 3.8(a) of the 
settlement agreement, available at 
http://books.google.com/booksrightsholders/ ) that protects 
Google's competitive position respecting orphan works;

*requiring the Book Rights Registry to offer future copyright 
holders the same terms as provided under the settlement;

*mandating library and reader representation on the registry's 
board;

*expressly authorizing the registry to negotiate with Google's 
competitors in the digitization market;

*prohibiting Google from engaging in retail price discrimination 
respecting digital books;

*incorporating express protections of reader privacy; and

*requiring free public access to the registry's database of 
information respecting ownership of rights in the digitized 
books, and to Google's database recording which digitized books 
are available in print.

Grimmelmann also calls for imposition of an antitrust consent 
decree on the registry and a grant of authority to the Justice 
Department to monitor all registry contracts for potential 
anticompetitive effect.  Further, he recommends that the FTC 
regulate Google to prevent price discrimination, privacy 
breaches, and the imposition of onerous usage restrictions.  Hat 
tip to Chris Welch:

http://twitter.com/guppywon/statuses/1323802213 .

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Robert C. Richards, Jr., J.D.*, M.S.L.I.S., M.A.
Law Librarian & Legal Information Consultant
Philadelphia, PA
richards1000@comcast.net
Legal Information Systems & Legal Informatics Resources:
http://home.comcast.net/~richards1000/LegalInformationSystemsBibliography.htm
Bankruptcy Research Guide:
http://home.comcast.net/~richards1000/CostEffectiveBankruptcyResearch.htm
* Member New York bar, retired status.
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