Authors 'confused' as Google opt-out deadline nears

19.01.10 Benedicte Page reportiong in The Bookseller

As the deadline for opting out of the Google Settlement looms (28th January), authors say they are uneasy and confused over what action to take.
Usborne author Diana Kimpton, who is highly critical of the revised Settlement, said the main feeling among her fellow writers was "complete confusion", at being faced with "this enormous document".
"People have said to me, 'I tried to read it but practically lost the will to live'," she said. "It is based on US law and uses American terminology and my agent is as confused as me."

Kimpton has written a seven-page objection to the amended Google Book Settlement to the New York court, which will hold a fairness hearing in February, but said she had decided to remain in the Settlement, rather than opting out, so that she could continue to raise objections to it.

HarperCollins author Katherine Langrish said she had found the Settlement "abominably hard to get one's head around" and said she had concerns that it represents "a reversal of the long-established principles of copyright" by putting the onus on authors and publishers to prove that a book is or is not commercially unavailable.

She said: "I opted in on the last round on advice, but am thinking of opting out now - but to be honest, I don't know what is the right thing to do, and it's very disconcerting to be in this position."

John Dougherty, published by Random House Childrens Books, said he had chosen to opt out of the Google Settlement. However Dougherty said there had been a lack of clear guidance to help him make that decision, although his literary agency and the Society of Authors had been "informative".
"Everyone has different views and it doesn't seem that anyone has any good advice," he said.

Mark Le Fanu, general secretary of the Society of Authors, said the SoA was working on an email briefing to members, set to cover "Why opt out?" and "What happens if I do not opt out?" and due to go out within the next "day or two".

A briefing on the SoA website says the Settlement seemed "a pragmatic solution to the problem of how to balance the needs of readers ith the rights of copyright holders in the digital age" and lists six advantages to the Settlement, including payment to authors for past digitisation and the establishment of a new US Book Rights Registry.

However Kimpton criticised the SoA stance, saying: "We were relying on the Society of Authors but they have come out and said 'It's not perfect but it's the best we will get', which is appalling in my view.'"