Book Rights Registry
Encyclopedia
The Book Rights Registry is an entity to be founded as part of a settlement of the lawsuit between the Authors Guild and Google
over the Google Books scanning project. The Registry will be initially funded by $34.5 million from Google but it will be an independent, not-for-profit organization that collects and disburses revenue from third party users of content (e.g. Google Book Search
) to authors, publishers and other rightsholders. According to the Settlement Agreement, the Registry will own and maintain a rights information database for all books (and parts of books) covered by the Agreement and their authors and publishers. It will also resolve disputes between rightsholders.
Michael Healy, the current head (as of September 2009) of the Book Industry Study Group, is slated to become the new head of the Registry.
Authors Guild president Roy Blount, Jr.
described it as "the writers' equivalent of ASCAP."
– whose members include American Society of Journalists and Authors
, Internet Archive
, Amazon
, Yahoo, National Writers Union
and New York Library Association
among others – maintain the deal would create a de facto exclusive license for Google because the deal grants no rights to the BRR to license books to competitors – copyright owners will have to license Google’s competitors voluntarily, while Google gets an involuntary, virtual compulsory license through class action process. As a result, only Google receives a license to “orphan books”, whose owners won’t show up to license competitors and which comprise an estimated 70% of books. In short, the settlement all but guarantees that Google would have permanent competitive advantages around comprehensiveness and cost. This is one reason why the Department of Justice is investigating the proposed deal and numerous non-profit organizations, academics and other stakeholders have condemned it.
Pam Samuelson, UC Berkeley Professor of Law says "Libraries everywhere are terrified that Google will engage in price-gouging when setting prices for institutional subscriptions to "the works"
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
over the Google Books scanning project. The Registry will be initially funded by $34.5 million from Google but it will be an independent, not-for-profit organization that collects and disburses revenue from third party users of content (e.g. Google Book Search
Google Book Search
Google Books is a service from Google that searches the full text of books that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical character recognition, and stored in its digital database. The service was formerly known as Google Print when it was introduced at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October...
) to authors, publishers and other rightsholders. According to the Settlement Agreement, the Registry will own and maintain a rights information database for all books (and parts of books) covered by the Agreement and their authors and publishers. It will also resolve disputes between rightsholders.
Michael Healy, the current head (as of September 2009) of the Book Industry Study Group, is slated to become the new head of the Registry.
Authors Guild president Roy Blount, Jr.
Roy Blount, Jr.
Roy Alton Blount, Jr. is an American writer. Best known as a humorist, Blount is also a reporter, actor, and musician with the Rock Bottom Remainders, a rock band composed entirely of writers. He is also a former president of the Authors Guild....
described it as "the writers' equivalent of ASCAP."
Criticism
The Open Book AllianceOpen Book Alliance
The Open Book Alliance is an organisation concerned about the mass digitization of books and opposed to the Google Book Settlement, which they believe could allow Google, the Association of American Publishers and the Authors’ Guild collectively "to monopolize the access, distribution and pricing...
– whose members include American Society of Journalists and Authors
American Society of Journalists and Authors
The American Society of Journalists and Authors was founded in 1948 as the Society of Magazine Writers, and is an organization of independent nonfiction writers in the United States...
, Internet Archive
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
, Amazon
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
, Yahoo, National Writers Union
National Writers Union
National Writers Union , founded on November 19, 1981, is the trade union in the United States for freelance and contract writers: journalists, book and short fiction authors, business and technical writers, web content providers, and poets...
and New York Library Association
New York Library Association
The New York Library Association was founded in 1890 to promote New York libraries. NYLA was the first state-wide organization of librarians in the United States. One of its founders was Melvil Dewey, who has had a lasting impact on libraries in the United States...
among others – maintain the deal would create a de facto exclusive license for Google because the deal grants no rights to the BRR to license books to competitors – copyright owners will have to license Google’s competitors voluntarily, while Google gets an involuntary, virtual compulsory license through class action process. As a result, only Google receives a license to “orphan books”, whose owners won’t show up to license competitors and which comprise an estimated 70% of books. In short, the settlement all but guarantees that Google would have permanent competitive advantages around comprehensiveness and cost. This is one reason why the Department of Justice is investigating the proposed deal and numerous non-profit organizations, academics and other stakeholders have condemned it.
Pam Samuelson, UC Berkeley Professor of Law says "Libraries everywhere are terrified that Google will engage in price-gouging when setting prices for institutional subscriptions to "the works"