Daily Archives: March 24, 2009

Information on the Google Settlement

As some of you may know, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the Author’s Guild launched a lawsuit against Google. Here is some background and info that may impact you:

Publishers have been asked to help in the task of notifying authors about the Google Litigation Settlement Agreement. In October 2008, AAP announced that a Settlement Agreement had been reached which, upon court approval, would resolve the two pending Google Book Search copyright infringement lawsuits – a class action suit brought against Google by the Authors Guild, and a separate suit brought against Google by five AAP members supported by AAP.

Because it resolves a class action lawsuit, the Settlement Agreement, if approved, will affect the rights of all book authors, book publishers and other persons – both inside and outside the United States – who own a U.S. copyright interest in books or certain other copyrighted works that Google, without permission, has scanned or may scan and display. It is important that such “class members” receive timely notice of the Settlement Agreement so they may exercise their rights and options, including whether to opt out of the settlement or, if not, claim their books.

With AAP, the Authors Guild and Google are coordinating notice efforts to ensure that their combined actions will satisfy the class action legal requirement to provide “the best notice practicable under the circumstances, including individual notice to all members who can be identified through reasonable effort.” Publishers have been asked to provide notice of the Settlement Agreement to their authors and direct them to the official settlement website at http://www.googlebooksettlement.com.

Please share the information with anyone you think might have had their work impacted.

Thanks!

Isabel Swift