10 posts and columns on orphan works

DOJ on Google Book Settlement: Get Me Another Rewrite

in News on February 5, 2010 at 5:05 am PT

The Department of Justice still isn’t sold on the Google Books settlement agreement. In a brief filed late Thursday, the DOJ said that significant legal problems remain despite the considerable changes Google, publishers and authors have made to it.
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Google’s Mission: To Digitize the World’s Books and Make Them Universally Monetizable by Google

in News on November 16, 2009 at 12:40 pm PT

Google, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers have submitted a new version of their digital book settlement, and while it makes concessions to the Department of Justice and others who have raised concerns about how it may violate antitrust laws, the new proposal doesn’t seem to have appeased all of its opponents.
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Google Blows Book Search Deal Deadline

in News on November 9, 2009 at 2:36 pm PT

Google’s five-year-old copyright feud with the publishing industry will drag on a few days more now that the deadline for submitting a revised settlement proposal has been pushed back once again. Google and attorneys representing the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers were supposed to file the document today, but instead asked the judge overseeing the matter to give them until the end of the week.

Google: We’re Hiring, and Spending, Again

in Media on October 7, 2009 at 10:55 am PT

Google CEO Eric Schmidt used the opening moments of a New York City press conference to reinforce a message he’s been delivering for several weeks: The worst is over, things are looking up, and Google is spending accordingly.
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Nov. 9 Deadline Set for Amended Google Book Deal

in News on October 7, 2009 at 10:00 am PT

November 9. That’s the day on which Google, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers are to submit an amended version of their book settlement, one that addresses concerns that it might give them unfair advantage over other digital libraries or violate copyright laws abroad.
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France to Google Books Deal: Go Away or I Shall Taunt You a Second Time 

in News on September 8, 2009 at 4:30 am PT

Google claims that its Book Search settlement will “bring back to life millions of lost books in a way that serves the interest of all.” And if that truly is its goal, the company is going to have to put its own Brobdingnagian self interests second to those of others–if only for a little while. To wit, Google’s announcement Monday of a number of concessions to the European Union, which seems a bit dubious of the whole thing.
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Internet Archive Announces Everybody-Against-Google Coalition

in News on August 21, 2009 at 4:30 am PT

As the Google Book Search Settlement nears a Sept. 4 deadline for rights-holders to opt out of the deal, some powerful interests are rallying to oppose it. Rallied by the Internet Archive and veteran Silicon Valley antitrust lawyer Gary Reback, Amazon, Microsoft, Yahoo and others are forming a coalition called the Open Book Alliance. Its purpose: To make the case to an already concerned Justice Department that the $125 million settlement is anticompetitive.
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A Google Book Search for "Antitrust Law" Ought to Come in Handy Here…

in News on April 29, 2009 at 9:27 am PT

Google’s gone and run afoul of the Department of Justice again. Its interest piqued by the growing outcry over the company’s proposed book-search settlement with authors and publishers, the agency has opened an inquiry.
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A Google Book Search for “Antitrust Law” Ought to Come in Handy Here…

in News on April 29, 2009 at 9:27 am PT

Google’s gone and run afoul of the Department of Justice again. Its interest piqued by the growing outcry over the company’s proposed book-search settlement with authors and publishers, the agency has opened an inquiry.
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