GOOG JAPANESE BOOKS TO AUTOMATICALLY GO ONLINE VIA GOOGLE SERVICE
JAPANESE BOOKS TO AUTOMATICALLY GO ONLINE VIA GOOGLE SERVICE
TOKYO, Feb 26, 2009
Books published in Japan would be made public on the Internet through Google Inc.'s books library project unless copyright holders take steps to block the commercial use of protected content, under the terms of a proposed U.S. class action settlement.
The details of the proposed agreement over Google Book Search were made public recently, with a U.S. court expected to approve the settlement on June 11.
The settlement would authorize the U.S. search engine giant to scan copyrighted books in the U.S., maintain an electronic database of the works and use the content in a variety of ways, such as charging fees for access and placing advertisements. In exchange, Google will pay copyright holders 63 per cent of all revenue from these applications.
This digital-rights class action agreement covers books published outside the U.S., including Japan. Authors and publishers that do not want Google to use their materials need to notify the company by 2011, and those wishing to opt out of the settlement must do so by May 5 of this year.
Domestic publishers have expressed concern that the contents of their books might be sold in the U.S. if they fail to act. But there have been some positive reactions as well.
"Having lots of people read my books makes me happy," says author Joh Sasaki, who writes adventure novels. "I have no objections if the service will allow users to read online books that they otherwise would not have ready access to."
GOOG JAPANESE BOOKS TO AUTOMATICALLY GO ONLINE VIA GOOGLE SERVICE
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