Re: French deal may break deadlock between Google and publishers

[Sandy Thatcher <sandy.thatcher@alumni.princeton.edu>]

Unless I'm missing something, I don't see what's new about this 
kind of arrangement. Way back in 2005 U.S. publishers began 
entering into agreements with Google in its Publisher program to 
have Google digitize books. The suit arose out of an unsanctioned 
arrangement Google struck up with libraries and Google's 
challenge to the traditional practice of publishers opting in to 
any such arrangement. The deal with Hachette looks very much like 
the deals U.S. publishers have been making with Google for five 
years now. This may be a "fresh start" for Hachette, but it isn't 
for U.S. publishers.

Sandy Thatcher


>"A new agreement between Hachette Livre and Google could offer a
>way forward in the ongoing dispute between authors, publishers
>and the search engine over the digitising of out-of-print books."
>
>Full text, from the Guardian: http://bit.ly/gkyWd9
>
>Bernie Sloan