5 U.S. Attorneys General Object Google Deal
Several U.S. attorneys general have expressed negative opinions of the proposed settlement between Google and the Authors Guild.
MarketWatch this week reports that five U.S. state legal advisors from Missouri, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Washington have filed briefings opposing the Google Book deal. The news comes as rumors begin to circulate that claim Google is altering the deal to try and appease the Department of Justice's antitrust division.
The deal between Google and the Authors Guild would see the former establish the Books Rights Registry where authors could register and receive a cut of the revenue garnered from ads and sales of books. However, while Google would be paying copyright holders, the registry would keep proceeds for orphan works where the copyright holder could no be located.
The five states argue that doing so would circumvent state unclaimed property laws, which can carry significant penalties of up to 10,000 and up to a year in jail. MarketWatch cites Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster who argues that state law requires that "abandoned" property be deposited with the state treasurer. Koster's brief went on to point out that American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers regularly pay into state funds when copyright holders can't be found.
Read the full story here.
- Lenovo's Atom-powered C100 is Cheap, Cheerful
- Zune HD Review: Finally, an iPod Competitor?
- Students Can Get Windows 7 Pro for $19
- Nvidia: DirectX 11 Won't Define GPU Sales
- Star Wars: Jedi Knight Collection Hits Steam
- Pirate Bay Buyer Finds New Stock Exchange
- Microsoft Wants 5% Cut of Each New Windows PC
- Yahoo!: We Could Use Google or Bing Search
- Bing Cuts Itself a 10% Slice of the Search Pie
- Dr. Dre, HP Make Limited Edition Envy 15
- No More Service Packs for Windows XP
- QOTD: Would You Pay For Content Online?
- xpPhone: Smartphone that Runs Windows XP
- BioShock 2 Release Date Announced
- Report: Dell, HP Working on 3D Gaming Laptops
- Talk Like Pirate Day: Monkey Island Sale
- Asus Delivering Blu-ray via USB
- Report: Best Buy Might Buy GameStop
Wow, so states trying to be greedy. What ever happened to "Of the people, for the people and by the people" It should be rewritten to "Of the corporation, for the corporation and by the corporation".
Apparently Google has been falling behind on their "policy fees" a.k.a. bribes.
How the hell did we get ourselves into position where people who know next to nothing about technology can dictate rules and regulations to everyone else?
"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." King Henry VI (Act IV, Scene II).
Everyone wants to get in line for the hate/milk Google parade.
I don't like this at all.
How the hell did we get ourselves into position where people who know next to nothing about technology can dictate rules and regulations to everyone else?"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." King Henry VI (Act IV, Scene II).
Well said!
Isn't there a way of buying the copyrights if the current owner doesn't exist anymore?
Wow, so states trying to be greedy. What ever happened to "Of the people, for the people and by the people" It should be rewritten to "Of the corporation, for the corporation and by the corporation".
Uhm, the states aren't being greedy. Apparently google is trying to make money off unclaimed works and you're calling the states greedy?
I simply want a easy, quick, and convenient source for books online.
My library has limited stock, my book store is too expensive, and buying books online usually is still insanely expensive.
I have pirated many books and I have no care about the legality. Plain and simple, I want something I can't get locally, and I want it now.
I support Google for trying to have an online book resource.
Do those attorneys belong to the: Uhhh what does this button do?
and the: Press any key. Well which one is the any key?
I have a friend whose job is to try and find individuals who are entitled to receive payments for their works. You would be surprised at the number of authors who never became famous. They don't do change of address notifications and literally disappear without a trace.
I simply want a easy, quick, and convenient source for books online.My library has limited stock, my book store is too expensive, and buying books online usually is still insanely expensive.I have pirated many books and I have no care about the legality. Plain and simple, I want something I can't get locally, and I want it now.I support Google for trying to have an online book resource.
NO the states treasurer get the work if the copyright holder is dead, in this deal google can publish it without the copyright holder consent,m this is the STATE being deadly because now they wont be able to chharge for this material if it freely avaliable online
sceen311: Go re-read the last paragraph, they say that unclaimed property should go to the state treasurer ie: the states want their cut for doing nothing.
The problem in this country is that our politicians are corrupt and stupid, that's a bad combination, America is the ponzi scheme that just refuses to go bust. Soviet style collapse anyone? Don't feel bad, I'm sure the Romans never thought that they'd fall either... Ironically enough, a war in Afghanistan has been the downfall of all of the empires, Alexander the Great was the last to successfully conquer Afghanistan, and he only kept it for 3 years.