I haven't been following the whole Google Books issue closely, but last week there was a new development.
The basics (up to last week) are: Several years ago Google, cooperating with a handful of big research libraries, started digitizing millions of books. A group of publishers and authors sued. In 2008 the two sides negotiated a settlement that included a way for copyright holders to opt out of the digitization project—i.e., not to have their stuff in Google's huge digital library. And Google would set up a fund to compensate rights holders whose interests were infringed. Google in turn would get to sell access to millions of books that were out of print.
The new developments (told in headlines):
- Judge rejects Google’s deal with authors and publishers to put books online, Wash. Post, March 22, 2011
- Judge Rejects Google Books Settlement, Wall St. J., March 23, 2011
- Editorial, Online books and copyright law, Wash. Post, March 25, 2011
- The Google Settlement Rejection: What Comes Next? With the Google settlement rejected, parties ponder future, Publishers Weekly, March 28, 2011 ("When it was introduced in 2008, the Google Book Settlement was hailed by its creators as historic. Now, it is history.")
- Press release, Praise for Decision to Stop the Google Books Deal, American Antitrust Institute, March 23, 2011
- Siva Vaidhyanathan, Thank You, Judge Chin: Why the Google Books setback is an opportunity to reassert academic values, Chron. of Higher Educ., March 24, 2011
- Julian Sanchez, Google Books, Fair Uses, and “Copyright” as Misnomer, Julian Sanchez blog, March 24, 2011
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