Authors Guild: 'harnessing Google' is best option

10.02.10 | Benedicte Page in The Bookseller

In the wake of the US Department of Justice's objections to the revised Google Settlement, and with the fairness hearing fast approaching (18th February), the Authors Guild has given members further explanation of its position in supporting the Settlement.

"Some authors and authors' groups have asked why we didn't press the litigation through to the end," the Guild said in a statement sent to members and uploaded on its site. "The answer (besides the benefits we saw for authors in creating new markets for out-of-print works), in part, is that copyright litigation is uncertain.

"Fair use law is complex. One could fill a good-sized law-school classroom with copyright professors who believe that Google's scanning of your books is a fair use. We don't agree with that view, but our opinion may not have prevailed."

Even if it could have won, argues the AG, the risk is that infringements would continue: "Nothing seems to drive innovation among copyright pirates as much as a defeat in the courts."

Ursula Le Guin's letter of objection to the Settlement, signed by over 300 authors including some UK names, has also been lodged with the US court which will hold the hearing.