Just over three years ago the Authors Guild and then the AAP and a group of five publishers filed lawsuits against Google over their library book-scanning project based on the principal that it constituted copyright infringement. Now with all the parties finding different ways of declaring their settlement agreement “historic,” principal has been sufficiently resolved to give way to hopes of commerce and accessibility. Google gets a pathway to a virtual monopoly for an online library of books in the US, and all parties leave the legal issues regarding fair use and orphan works sufficiently unresolved so as to discourage […]
eNews
Google Settles
Lawsuits brought by the Authors Guild on a class-action basis and five large publishers as representatives of Association of American Publishers against Google have been settled, pending approval by the US District Court. The release notes that “the agreement acknowledges the rights and interests of copyright owners, provides an efficient means for them to control how their intellectual property is accessed online and enables them to receive compensation for online access to their works.” Yes, compensation. Google will pay a total of $125 million, “to establish the Book Rights Registry, to resolve existing claims by authors and publishers and to […]
Early Reviews, Electronically
LibraryThing is among booklover sites with loyal audiences that has had success in helping publishers channel galleys to interested readers who are likely to post online/review the books. In October, for example, they’ve had available for request 1,670 copies of 55 titles. Now Sourcebooks is experimenting with an electronic offering: they are allowing up to 2,500 downloads of their recently published IN THE LAND OF INVISIBLE WOMEN to Library Thing members through the end of October.
Oprah's "Favorite New Gadget": Kindle
She loved the Gemstar ebook reader back when it was hard to love in 2000 (and even that didn’t spur sales significantly) and now Oprah loves Kindle. She gave the device an oddly over-the-top endorsement on Friday’s show, with Amazon ceo Jeff Bezos joining her on the set as window dressing since he barely got a word in. Winfrey declared, “I’m telling you, it is absolutely my new favorite thing in the world.” Acknowledging that the device could be pricey for much of her audience, the Oprah web site has a promotional code that gives $50 off the purchase price […]
E and Free
Open-source college textbook company Flat World Knowledge announced the completion of $700,000 funding round, bringing total funding to date to $1.4 million. They say they expect “a larger Series A round from venture investors and/or strategic partners within the next six months.” In beta for the past few months, Flat World expects to have its national commercial launch in time for the 2009 spring semester. They are building their sales and marketing team, which now includes Sharon Koch as marketing director. (She was director of marketing for a division of Prentice Hall/Pearson Education.) And former Simon & Schuster ceo Jonathan […]
People, and More
At Random House Canada, Lisa Charters has been promoted to svp, director, digital, continuing to report to president Brad Martin. The company’s BookLounge.ca, a site for “avid readers,” is said to have over 10,000 members. Charters is “also now leading our efforts to get our books into Ebook format and focusing on the increasing sales opportunities for digital downloadable ebooks and audiobooks.” Also electronically, Random House UK is developing a site called AuthorsPlace that gives the house’s authors a toolkit to create pages online with a variety of standardize content elements. At the site, the company says: “We’ve invited our […]