Industry & Advocacy News
February 25, 2009
February 25, 2009. The settlement strengthens authors’ rights and will, if approved by the court, result in millions of dollars of payments to authors. At least $45 million will be paid to authors and publishers to release claims for books that are scanned by Google by May 5th of this year. But that’s not the most significant part of the settlement, in our view. We expect the licensing that this settlement would enable, particularly of out-of-print books, will result in far more revenues for authors over the coming years.
The settlement covers essentially all in-copyright books that were published by January 5, 2009. (Some authors have told us that they think of the settlement as covering only books for adults or nonfiction books. This is incorrect. Books of all types are covered by the settlement.)
We think it’s in the strong interest of authors of all books, whether in print or out of print, to go to www.googlebooksettlement.com and claim their books. Here are some of the benefits of doing so:
1. If you file your claim by January 5, 2010, and a book in which you have a copyright interest is scanned by Google before May 5, 2009, you will be entitled to a small share (at least $60 per book, but up to $300, depending on the number of claims) in a pool of at least $45 million that Google is paying to release claims for works that were scanned without rightsholder permission.
2. By registering, you’ll be able to share in potential revenues for uses of your works under several new licensing programs that the settlement enables. Here are examples of licensing revenues you may be entitled to share in:
A. Revenues from printing out pages from your works at terminals in public libraries.
B. Revenues from ads that may appear near “previews” of your works at books.google.com.
C. Revenues from sales of special online editions of your works.
D. Revenues from institutional subscriptions that may include your works.
Important note: Only out-of-print books will be included in these programs by default. In-print books will be included only where rightsholders affirmatively elect to do so.
3. By registering, you’ll automatically enroll in the new Book Rights Registry, which will give you a considerable amount of control over the rights to your works, including your right to withdraw your work from the licensing programs described above.
The important thing is to assert your rights. It’s easiest to do so by setting up an account at www.googlebooksettlement.com, the official settlement website. Once you’re logged in, it’s generally most efficient to claim your works by searching the database of titles by your name.
There are many more details, which the attached document spells out. For those who would like more information, we’ll soon be announcing a new series of phone-in seminars. You will receive that e-mail later this week.
Please feel free to forward and post this message: non-Guild members are entitled to the same advantages of the settlement as Guild members.
