Google Agrees to Pay $125 Million to Settle Book-Scanning Lawsuits

by Janette Spencer-Davis, Legal Editor, CCH Copyright Law Reports   

    Google has agreed to pay $125 million to settle two copyright lawsuits filed by book authors and publishers over its book-scanning efforts. The lawsuits challenged Google's plan to digitize, search, and show snippets of in-copyright books and to share digital copies with libraries without the explicit permission of the copyright owner. The $125 million will be used to establish a Book Rights Registry to resolve existing claims by authors and publishers and to cover legal fees.

The agreement, which is subject to approval by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, would allow Google to make millions of out-of-print books available for reading and purchasing online. It would show up to 20 percent of the text at no charge to users and make the entire book available online for a fee. Google plans to take 37 percent of the revenue, leaving 63 percent for publishers and authors. While some authors and publishers hailed the settlement as a victory, it did not resolve the question of whether Google's unauthorized scanning of copyrighted books was permissible under the Copyright Act.

The Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google, Inc., SDNY, No. 05 CV 8136 JES, October 28, 2008.

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