News & Trends: Countdown to the Google Book Search Settlement Review
“We are still analyzing the proposed settlement and have asked for more information from Google. We have not yet formed a companywide opinion on the matter.”
—Sophie Cottrell, VP, communications director, Hachette Book Group
“Now that we have a settlement, publishers ought to figure out how to make the most of this, because this is a powerful technology, and people will be drawn to it, and that ought to present opportunities for enterprising publishers.”
—John Morse, president and publisher, Merriam-Webster Inc.
“… The issue here is protection of copyright for publishers and authors, and that concerns all publishers. The jury will be out for quite some time as to whether Google is a monopoly that is trying to gain access to the world’s knowledge for corporate gain or a savior of the world’s knowledge that [otherwise] would be lost due to deterioration without digitization. The fact is, Google was scanning copyrighted works without permission or compensation, and now they can no longer do so.”
—Terry Nathan, executive director, Independent Book Publishers Association
“Random House is very supportive of the settlement. We believe it is a great step forward for all parties in the shared opportunity to bring our authors’ content to an ever-greater number of potential book buyers.”
—Stuart Applebaum, executive vice president, communications, Random House
“The proposed settlement should help authors and publishers. With respect to books that are in print, authors and publishers can choose whether to allow the books to be part of the [Google Books Library Project]. This is an important protection and far better than requiring rights holders [of in-print books] to ‘opt out’ or be considered to have consented to participate. Also, those who participate will receive remuneration and the benefit of having limited portions of their books come up in response to key words used in Google searches. This is similar to the existing search program that many publishers have taken part in and should help potential purchasers find relevant books to buy.”
—Tad Crawford, publisher, Allworth Press
