For a price-tag of $125 million ((Which must be small change for Google)) Google, the Association of American Publishers [1]and the Authors Guild [2] resolved a challenge to the Google Books project [3].
The settlement agreement resolves a class-action suit filed on Sept. 20, 2005, by the Authors Guild and certain authors, and a suit filed three years ago, by five major publisher-members of the Association of American Publishers: McGraw-Hill, Pearson Education, Penguin Group, John Wiley & Sons and Simon & Schuster. It is subject to approval by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
For lawyers the links below are useful.
Authors Guild v. Google Settlement Resources Page
On October 28, 2008 the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers and Google announced the landmark settlement of Authors Guild v. Google. On this page, we’ve gathered documents and links that will be of interest to authors and others regarding this settlement.
Settlement Agreement [4] October 28, 2008
Class Notice [5] October 28, 2008
Settlement Website [6] Official Website
Roy Blount’s Message to Authors Guild Members [7] October 28, 2008
Press Resources:
Press Release [8] October 28, 2008
Press FAQs [9] October 28, 2008
Final University Joint Press Release [10] October 28, 2008. University of Michigan, University of California and Stanford Press Release
Litigation History:
Authors Guild v. Google [11] September 20, 2005. Authors’ Initial Complaint
McGraw-Hill v. Google [12] October 19, 2005. Publishers’ Initial Complaint
McGraw-Hill v. Google [13] November 8, 2005. Google’s Answer to Publishers’ Complaint
Authors Guild v. Google [14] November 30, 2005. Google’s Answer to Authors’ Complaint