Re: French deal may break deadlock between Google and publishers

[Joseph Esposito <espositoj@gmail.com>]

Sandy,

I am no expert on all the ins and outs of Google's various 
programs, but I believe that the Hachette arrangement has a new 
feature: Hachette will receive digital copies of their books, 
which they can exploit in any way they choose.  In effect, G is 
serving as a conversion house, among other things.

Joe Esposito

On Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 3:02 PM, Sandy Thatcher
<sandy.thatcher@alumni.princeton.edu> wrote:

> 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