Authors Bail Out On Google

1 Mar 2010 by Graham Lyons - News google No Comments

Perhaps Google have shown once and for all that they aren’t susceptible to the same laws as normal businesses. This isn’t however an assault on Google but merely an observation. In the midst of a variety of large scale issues surrounding them (most notably their involvement with the EC and Italian authorities), Google are still involved in another ongoing legal issue that highlights the level of controversy surrounding the company’s use of other people legal property, i.e. books.

Google Logo In comparison to other legal matters, you might have been unsurprised had this totally slipped under the radar. By the end of January this year, Google had submitted a legal case whereby it would become exempt from being sued for publishing online from a variety of copyrighted books from a selection of authors. One stipulation of the settlement is that Google will not be able to publish the content of authors who ‘opt-out’ of the proposed move. Those who do opt-out will lose the opportunity to gain possible future revenues from being included in the digital archive.

As a result, over 6,500 authors have opted out for a variety of reasons. The most notable is that while having to opt-out of something you never even opted into, even greater insult comes from the fact that Google had scanned many of the books before even asking permission. Secondly, there is the fear that Google could change the rules of the agreement at a later date removing the rights of the authors themselves. Add to this the fact that authors stand to gain very little monetarily from the proposal and few see any real reason to allow it. This is their prerogative.

However, there is a strong argument that it is not Google’s prerogative to take control of other peoples legal property and afford them only the courtesy of ‘opting out’. Frankly, for any other company to set about copying other peoples written property for use as part of their business strategy would result in what you might imagine to be a very short, sharp lawsuit. So how then is it that Google are so often immune from the laws which govern normal society? While online content readily available is great for all users, consideration has to be made for the owners of that content whether it is music, film or books.

Let us know your view on this issue by posting below. Are Google out of line, or is this freedom of content the way of the future?