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Google Books Slapped With Yet Another Lawsuit

Date: 2010.04.08 | Category: Google Books | Response: Comments

Google’s controversial online book project, Google Books, has been slapped with yet another lawsuit, this time from the American Society of Media Photographers.

The entity claims that Google had been scanning and uploading their works without seeking permission or paying any fee.

In the lawsuit, the photographer’s community is seeking compensation for the obvious copyright infringement committed by Google when it scanned their photographic works.

Interestingly, ever since trouble began for Google Books, the photographic community had remained surprisingly quiet as everyone even remotely related to the literary world, went ahead and sued the company.

However, it was a matter of time when the photographic association came out with their own lawsuit, since they were restrained from taking part in the $125 million court settlement between Google and writers.

Expressing his views on the lawsuit filed by the association, Eugene Mopsik, the executive director of the American Society of Media Photographers, said in a statement that “If there is going to be a system developed to manage the compensation for these types of books, we felt visual artists need to be represented. We have been totally excluded. We want a seat at the table.”

Originally published on ITProPortal.com
Google To Scan Millions Of Italian Books

Date: 2010.03.11 | Category: Google Books | Response: Comments

Search engine giant Google has finally had a headway with its Google Books project by striking a major book scanning deal with the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage.

Google will scan millions of ancient Italian books that are not protected under the county’s copyright laws as they were published before 1868.

According to a post on the official Google blog, the company will be working closely with Italian Cultural ministry in order to scan millions of out-of-copyright books archived in the two national libraries in Florence and Rome.

Interestingly, this ‘ground breaking’ book scanning deal with the Italian authorities, comes just two weeks after an Italian court handed over prison sentences to top Google officials on account of a video of an Italian boy being bullied, doing rounds on YouTube.

The deal will have Google scanning literary works of great Italian masters, making them available for free on the internet, presenting a great opportunity for people to acquaint themselves with culturally rich history of Italy.

The company explained that the libraries in Rome and Florence will select the books that need to be digitize, including rare historical books, scientific works, literature from the period of the founding of Italy and the works of Italy’s most famous poets and writers.

Originally published on ITProPortal.com
Google Books Faces Grilling From New York Court

Date: 2010.02.20 | Category: Google Books | Response: Comments

Google Books, the search engine giant’s attempt to create a massive online digital library by scanning millions of books, has often come under fire from governments, authors and publishing for scanning literary works of thousands of writers without their explicit permission.

Now, Google again is gearing up to face an arsenal of lawyers brought together by several authors and publishing houses for the fairness hearing to listen to arguments for and against the Google Books deal between Google and US authors and publishers.

In the deal, Google had paid $125 million to the US authors and publishers in order to secure permission for scanning their published works.

This controversial deal was criticised by several organisations, publishers, authors, consumer groups and governments as all of them believe that the deal was capable of giving Google the monopoly over the online books market.

Commenting on the fairness hearing, John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog said in a statement that “I do think all the books in the world should be digitised but I think it is completely wrong to give one huge company control of that huge database and this is a very very important matter.”

The Consumer Watchdog along with 26 other interested parties will be given five minutes to state their arguments.

Originally published on ITProPortal.com
US DoJ Says No To Revised Google Book Plans

Date: 2010.02.07 | Category: Google Books | Response: Comments

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has voiced its objection to the Google Books deal which will allow search engine giant Google create a mammoth online library by scanning the literary works of authors across the world.

The DoJ committee overseeing the proceedings of the deal’s review said that the revised version of the proposed plan failed to address the issues related to antitrust and copyright laws.

Earlier, Amazon had protested to the Department of Justice that if Google got the permission to scan and upload books on the internet, it would lead to a monopoly as consumers will be attracted to a platform which boasts of having books from around the world.

Commenting on the views put forward by the apex US government organisation, a DoJ spokesperson said in a statement that “The amended settlement agreement still confers significant and possibly anti-competitive advantages on Google as a single entity.” and added that the proposed deal put forward by Google will allow it to become “the only competitor in the digital marketplace with the rights to distribute and otherwise exploit a vast array of works in multiple formats.”

Ever since its launch, the Google Books project has run into several roadblocks in the form antitrust and copyright infringement lawsuits, including a fine of 300,000 Euros (£266,000) imposed on Google by a Paris court for scanning literary works of French authors without their permission.

Originally published on ITProPortal.com
Amazon To Contest Google Books Agreement

Date: 2010.01.31 | Category: Google Books | Response: Comments

Amazon.com, the online retail giant, has voiced its concern over a revised deal that will allow Google Books to create a massive online library by scanning the literary works of authors around the world and making them available for sale online.

In a statement, which echoes the belief of writers and publishers around the world, Amazon.com requested a New York City District Court to reject the revised deal pertaining to the fate of Google Books. Amazon claimed that proposed agreement is in violation of the US Copyright Act, and that the settlement would give Google rights that would effectively lead to a monopoly.

Apart from Amazon, several known authors and publishers have signed innumerable petitions against the revised Google Books deal as a US Court has given the deadline of January 28th to individuals and organisations that have objections against the Google Books Project.

Google Books was first launched in 2008 with the mission of scanning millions of books from around the world with the intention of making them publically available online, for sale. However, the project stumbled upon a roadblock as Authors Guild of America and Association of American Publishers sued Google, accusing its Books Project of ‘massive copyright infringements’.

Originally published on ITProPortal.com
Google To Stop Scanning And Publishing Works Of Chinese Authors

Date: 2010.01.13 | Category: Google Books | Response: Comments

Google Inc., the California based search engine giant, has agreed to remove the literary works of Chinese authors uploaded on its Google Books database following protests from a group of Chinese authors.

Google, which is right behind Baidu Inc. in the Chinese search engine market, has apologised to China Writer Association for scanning and uploading books written by Chinese authors without their permission.

The letter of apology, which was issued on January 9 2010, saw the internet giant pledging that it will “respect the wishes of any Chinese author who hasn’t authorized their books to be scanned.”

The document, which was sent by Google Books Asia Chief Erik Hartmann, also apologised for ‘inadequate miscommunication’ with Chinese Authors Association, Google spokeswoman Jennie Johnson has confirmed.

Google Books, an initiative undertaken by Google in 2004, aims to scan and catalogue all the books in the world and bring them on a single platform. Google has partnered with over 30,000 publishers and 40 libraries across the world.

Originally published on ITProPortal.com