BizJournals Portfolio
Home >   Business Views, Opinions and Blogs >   Business Blogs >   Tech Observer >  

Authors Get 125 Million In Google Suit And My Take Is

Tech Observer

by Kevin Maney
Main
AOL to Kill off Three More Products   Hey, You, Get Off Of My Cloud!

Recent Blog Posts

Links

Oct 28 2008 12:34pm EDT

Authors Get $125 million In Google Suit -- And My Take Is...?

Kevin Maney writes: As an author, I was mighty glad to see that The Authors Guild settled its lawsuit against Google for $125 million. Of this, I will get, um, $120.


As Roy Blount Jr. so folksily explains the situation, Google in 2005 launched a project to scan every book in existence without particularly asking for the permission of authors or publishers. Now, to be sure, this whole thing was widely misunderstood and misrepresented by the publishing industry. Google was not scanning books and putting them online for all to see. It was scanning them to make them searchable -- so you could find out whether the information you were looking for is in a particular book. Yes, you could see two pages of the book, but if you wanted to get more, you had to buy the book or go to a library. Google's project, in theory, should be helping book sales, not hurting them.

That said, as Blount explains, the authors and publishers wanted to force Google to play nice and make this a little more beneficial to copyright holders. So Google now has to offer a way for people to instantly buy a book they're searching, get paid for printouts made at public libraries, and a few other details.

So how much does this mean for authors? Blount, who is president of The Authors Guild (and a regular on NPR's "Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me!), says we'll "get a small share of this, at least $60" per book scanned. I've published two books, so that's $120 for me!

Thanks, Roy and Google, for funding a trip to the grocery store.

...

Comments

If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.


Connect With Portfolio.com
Like Portfolio on Facebook

Come on, like us—you know you want to.

Follow Portfolio on Twitter

Follow us and if you're an innovative entrepreneur, we'll return the favor.

The Mix

Today's top stories, conversation starters, and the back nine business bites.

spotlight on

Slideshows

500 Startups Hits New York

Dave McClure's brainchild makes its way to New York and introduces East Coast money folks to some intriguing new companies. View Slideshow