From the President
An Open Letter From the President and CEO of The Association of American Publishers
June 25, 2009
Dear Industry Colleague:
In the countdown to the October 7 court hearing on the Google Book Settlement we are encountering heated rhetoric from opponents, much of it hyperbolic and misleading. My job at AAP’s helm is not only to shepherd our membership through the coming months but to remind the industry at large that the Settlement offers enormous benefits and represents our best hope of remaining competitive and vibrant in the digital environment.
Millions of copyright-protected books are out of print and largely out of reach, available only through the largest research libraries in the country. The Google Book Settlement announced in October 2008 – the result of 30 months of negotiations between and among authors, publishers, university libraries and Google -- changes all that, working a revolution in the access to knowledge. If approved by the court, the settlement will:
· Provide readers and researchers with access to millions of out-of-print books, many of which are currently difficult or impossible for readers to obtain, in a searchable online database.
· Turn every public library building in the U.S. into a world-class research facility by providing free access to the online portal of out-of-print books.
· Permit any college or university in the U.S. to subscribe to the same rich database of out-of-print books.
· Give new commercial life to millions of books, while protecting the economic rights of authors and publishers.
If not approved by the court, the litigation between AAP, the Authors Guild and Google may continue for years, and with a great risk that authors and publishers will have no effective means to stop the widespread use of copyrighted material that is likely to follow.
In recent days some strong arguments in favor of the Settlement have appeared in print. They are all the more impressive because they come not from AAP, Google, or the Authors Guild, but from individuals who are not party to the Settlement.
One is a letter to the Financial Times from David Balto a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and former Policy Director of the Federal Trade Commission. It can be found at:
Booklovers should cheer Google’s plan
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8bf99ea8-6057-11de-a09b-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1
The second is a remarkably lucid piece by financial columnist (The Big Money) Mark Gimein. It can be found at:
In Defense of Google Books
http://www.reuters.com/article/bigMoney/idUS104837430520090624
The last is a statement by Paul N. Courant, Dean of Libraries at the University of Michigan. It can be found at:
Google Agreement will extend U-M libraries’ accessibility
http://www.mlive.com/opinion/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2009/06/other_voices_google_agreement.html
For a better understanding of what’s at stake, I urge you to read these.
With best regards,
Tom Allen
