Thursday, October 8, 2009

Google Books: a new agreement form November 9

The amicable settlement between Google Books and the associations of authors and publishers in the United States will be presented in a new formula to the U.S. Justice from November 9.

In the United States, the Digital Library project Google has been the subject of conciliation with the representatives of authors and publishers. The mutual agreement reached in October 2008 was initially to be validated by the U.S. Justice October 7, 2009. It provides that Google receives 37% of revenues from exploitation of the books scanned and available online, and 63% for authors and publishers.


The agreement also provides for the payment of 125 million dollars to fund the registry rights on the books. This register is to enable rightsholders whose works have been placed online via Google Books without their explicit consent to obtain compensation. Google has indeed had the unfortunate tendency to scan everything-goes into funds for American libraries do not ask any questions about copyright posteriori.




The U.S. Department of Justice has issued a negative opinion on this agreement, while the French Ministry of Culture, in particular, had also expressed its concerns to the court to adjudicate. The Rue de Valois has denounced an agreement "is consistent, the right of intellectual property, nor in competition law, [...] a threat to cultural diversity.

Google has tried to calm the winds of wrath came from Europe with a commitment from the European Commission that "without the express permission of rights holders, books whose marketing is still in force in the Old Continent will not do the subject of a sale through Google Books in the United States, although overseas such marketing is no longer appropriate.

According to AFP, a new version of the mutual agreement the United States will be presented on 9 November. If the court gives its approval following the procedure, the digitization project of Google could take more beautiful early 2010. To see what this agreement will once again while players like Amazon and Microsoft are pointing the finger at the risk of a Google monopoly, and denounce a lack of transparency in negotiations.

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