Last month I wrote about Jane Grellier and Veronica Goerkes' first-edition textbook which is in print and in copyright, but has been scanned in its entirety and is available on Google books.
Today, the electronic version of Communication Skills Toolkit can still be seen on Google books, free of charge. Consequently, Cengage Learning's US lawyers are now involved and have filed a claim regarding the use of this text by Google books - the publishing company remains part of the Google US settlement currently being played out in the courts.
As authors who have a royalty agreement with Cengage Learning, Jane and Veronica have certain rights under the Google settlement agreement. The Google Book Search Copyright Class Action Settlement website has FAQs and information to help authors understand what their rights are as part of a settlement.
In a nutshell, Jane and Veronica can file their own claim if they wish as part of the settlement. This will be in addition to the one that Cengage Learning has lodged on their behalf. However, even if Jane and Veronica select not to take any action, the monies that are paid by Google to rightsholders with respect to the digitialising of their work will be collected by Cengage Learning. Cengage Learning will then pay Jane and Veronica a share of revenues as provided in their author agreement with the publishing house.
All claims from publishers and authors need to be made by 5 January 2010 - on 24 September 2009, the US court issued an order delaying the approval hearing for the Google settlement agreement in light of the parties' plans to modify the settlement agreement. Therefore, it is possible that the settlement agreement will change.
I think most publishers are supportive of the settlement with Google because it provides improved public access to out-of-print books while enabling publishers and authors to maintain control of their works (including deciding whether to allow Google to display them). The settlement also enables future and additional selling opportunities.
However, in cases such as this, where books are in copyright and in print but displayed in their entirety, there is a gross violation of author and publisher rights, and unless a publishing house or an author actively searches through every publication, copyright infringements such as this have the potential to be rampant.
Here is a 30-minute talk on Google Books and their version of 'fair use'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmU2i1hQiN0
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