Google Books Settlement

For a price-tag of $125 million ((Which must be small change for Google)) Google, the Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild resolved a challenge to the Google Books project.

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   October 28, 2008

Class Notice  October 28, 2008

Settlement Website  Official Website

Roy Blount’s Message to Authors Guild Members  October 28, 2008

Press Resources:

Press Release  October 28, 2008

Press FAQs  October 28, 2008

Final University Joint Press Release October 28, 2008.  University of Michigan, University of California and Stanford Press Release

Litigation History:

Authors Guild v. Google  September 20, 2005.  Authors’ Initial Complaint

McGraw-Hill v. Google  October 19, 2005. Publishers’ Initial Complaint

McGraw-Hill v. Google  November 8, 2005.  Google’s Answer to Publishers’ Complaint

Authors Guild v. Google  November 30, 2005. Google’s Answer to Authors’ Complaint