Last fall, in October marked the end of a three-year lawsuit against Google for their Book Search program where they scan books and allows folks to choose to buy copyrighted books in full or certain pages making this a new revenue stream for Google.
So Google settled for $125 million. Authors now can opt-out of the program if they so chooses, Google will make a certain percentage of the sale, while the publishers would get a chunk. Universities and other institutions would be offer a subscription rate that allow unlimited viewing while libraries will have the service for free. Full details of the Google Book Search can be found here.
Now, how does this affect you, the photographer ?
Michael Grecco (APA’s Chairman of its Advocacy Committee) posted a letter that explains it.
"APA has been working for several weeks to obtain the details of the Google Settlement in order to explain it to you. Originally we were told that photographers were not part of the settlement but we pushed for either a reason why or a more clear understanding of who might be included. The definition of who was included is below from the class action attorneys. It is very specific, please read it carefully.
The definition of Books in the Settlement Agreement includes books with photographs. However, under the Settlement Agreement, photographs in books will only be displayed if a copyright owner of the photographs also owns a copyright in the book. Thus, your books of photography are covered by the Settlement (to the extent published, registered and subject to a U.S. copyright interest by January 5, 2009), and the photographs in those books may be displayed under the Settlement if you own a copyright in such photographs, subject to your rights under the Settlement to exclude your books (or portions of your books such as particular photographs) from one or more display uses."
The rest of the letter is here : APA letter
Other helpful links :
googlebooksettlement.com
books.google.com/googlebooks/agreement/
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