The Author's Guild reports that they have reached a settlement in the Guild's 2005 suit with Google over Google's unauthorized scanning and displaying of copyrighted books.

A statement by Author Guild's President, Roy Blount, Jr says in part, "The settlement, which must be approved by a federal judge before it takes effect, includes money for now and the prospect of money for later. There'll be at least $45 million for authors and publishers whose in-copyright books and other copyrighted texts have been scanned without permission."

The statement further says, " Rightsholders will receive a share of revenues from institutional subscriptions to the collection of books made available through Google Book Search under the settlement, as well as from sales of online consumer access to the books. They will also be paid for printouts at public libraries, as well as for other uses."

"The payments will flow through the Book Rights Registry, a new independent entity that can be thought of as the writers' equivalent of ASCAP. Much as ASCAP tracks the uses of songs and collects royalties for songwriters and musicians, the Registry will serve the interests of authors and others who own the rights to books appearing online as a result of this settlement. The Registry will be controlled by a board of authors and publishers; as part of the settlement, Google will pay $34.5 million to get the Registry up and running, notify rightsholders of the settlement, and process claims."

Authors feeling the compensation is inadequate, or with other objections, will have the option of opting out of the settlement to retain the right to sue Google and the Participating Libraries.

Google Book Search Copyright Settlement.

Google Book Search Copyright Settlement Agreement.

Proposed Notice (PDF)

SFWA statement on Google/Author’s Guild settlement.

Posted October 29, 2008