Berkeley Law Professor on the "Audacity" of the Google Book Settlement
Law Professor Pamela Samuelson (she also has an appointment from the School of Information) at the University of California Berkeley writes that while "some very positive things" will happen in a "post-settlement world" the are "many reasons to be concerned about the downsides that may counterbalance the upsides."
Consider this: The Authors Guild has about 8000 members. OCLC has estimated that there are 22 million authors of books published in the U.S. since 1923 (the year before which books can be presumed to be in the public domain). Jan Constantine, a lawyer for the Authors Guild, is optimistic that authors and publishers of out-of-print books will sign up with the Registry, but there are many reasons to question this.
For one thing, the proposed settlement agreement implicitly estimates that only about 750,000 copyright owners will sign up with the Registry, at least in the near term. Second, many books are "orphans," that is, books whose rights holders cannot be located by a reasonably diligent search. Third, many easily findable rights holders, particularly academic authors, would much rather make their works available on an open access basis than to sign up with the Registry. Fourth, signing up with the Registry will not be a simple matter, since the Registry won't just take your word for it that you are the rights holder. You are going to have to prove your ownership claim.
Professor Samuelson says more articles will be coming about this topic will be coming in the future.
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