The Authors Guild has responded to the court verdict regarding the Hathi Trust earlier this week, saying in a site post that “we disagree with nearly every aspect of the court’s ruling. We’re especially disappointed that the court refused to address the universities’ ‘orphan works’ program, which defendants have repeatedly promised to revive.” Executive director Paul Aiken writes of his concern that “the temptation to find reasons to release these digitized books clearly remains strong, and the university has consistently pledged to reinstate the orphan works program. The court’s decision leaves authors around the world at risk of having their […]
Legal
Hathi Trust Library Scans Are Judged Fair Use; Court Won’t Address Orphan Works Project Until It Is Resumed
With the recent settlement between Google and US publishers apparently not touching libraries at all (to the extent the parties have revealed anything), the companion suit by the Authors Guild and a number of other organzations against the Hathi Trust takes on extra interest. (Hathi is a digital repository for Google’s scans from many of the US academic libraries, with a strict set of limits, processes and procedures.) US District Court Judge Harold Baer in New York ruled on Wednesday, supporting the basic claim of the libraries that the Hathi Trust’s use of almost 10 million digital volumes qualifies as […]
Google and Publishers Settle Long-Running Library Scan Lawsuit
Publisher plaintiffs (and AAP members) Pearson, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, Wiley and McGraw-Hill have agreed to settle their seven-year legal battle with Google over the search giant’s library scanning project. “The settlement acknowledges the rights and interests of copyright-holders. US publishers can choose to make available or choose to remove their books and journals digitized by Google for its Library Project. Those deciding not to remove their works will have the option to receive a digital copy for their use.” The agreement broadly “covers US publishers who can be identified as belonging to one of several publisher associations,” AAP head […]
Judge Cote Denies Kohn’s Motion to Intervene–Which He Appeals
In a ten-page opinion issued Tuesday afternoon, Judge Cote denied Bob Kohn’s motion to intervene with respect to the ebook lawsuit settlement, concluding that he has no standing and saying that his public comments and the granting of his amicus motion should suffice. According to Judge Cote, Kohn failed to demonstrate he had standing to intervene because he did “not suggest that his individual rights will be impaired in any way if he is not permitted to intervene.” While Kohn may wish to assist the defense in fighting Justice’s lawsuit, he did not argue “that he — and the ‘millions’ […]
Penguin Reiterates Position On MacAdam/Cage Suit
In a separate statement, Penguin told us Friday they will proceed with their lawsuit against MacAdam/Cage over the ebook license to Susan Vreeland’s GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE even though the smaller publisher has announced plans to seek a buyer. Penguin indicates they notified MacAdam/Cage publisher David Poindexter “several times” about Vreeland’s claim and the settlement negotiations, but that “he remained silent.” Penguin says their suit is “seeking only the money it paid out of pocket to Susan Vreeland. Ms. Vreeland was able to show that she, not MacAdam/Cage, owned the ebook rights that MacAdam/Cage purported to grant Penguin, and that […]
Penguin Explains Author Lawsuits
On Friday afternoon, Penguin issued to us a statement regarding the reported dozen separate lawsuits seeking to recover advances paid to authors the publishers says did not submit manuscripts: “Penguin invests in, nurtures and develops authors who write books that we publish and bring to readers. It devalues the hard work of the vast majority of our authors, and is unfair to our readers, if a few individuals can keep tens of thousands of dollars in advances without ever delivering anything to the publisher. For this reason, Penguin is asking these authors to repay the money they received for work […]