Rare Book Monthly

Articles - September - 2009 Issue

Rivals, Others Seek to Derail Google/Publishers Alliance


While there is merit to some of their objections, to us this appears for the most part like the makers of horse-drawn carriages in the early 20th century attempting to pass laws that would make the use of automobiles impractical. They are standing in front of the tides of time, or at least, like Custer, in front of a flood of Indians. Digital access to old, hard-to-find texts is so superior in terms of practicality that it will happen, period. Progress cannot be stopped, and this is clearly progress.

The Alliance objects to Google, in effect, gaining a monopoly on access. To the extent that there are limitations on competition, their objections are reasonable. No one should be able to gain a monopoly on the future, even if they are the first. However, to the extent that Google's "monopoly" is based on their being the only outfit willing to invest in the costly scanning necessary to create this digital collection, then they have earned their position. After all, the only alternative to this kind of monopoly is nothing at all. And, Microsoft complaining about Google having a virtual monopoly when they have defended their own virtual monopoly on operating systems and software for years strikes us as, well... let's just say ironic.

Google's settlement with the authors and publishers both does and does not create a monopoly. It is not an exclusive agreement. It does not prohibit the copyright holders from signing agreements with other digital providers. However, it does not provide similar arrangements for others either. They are free to negotiate with the copyright holders, but they are not guaranteed access to these works on similar terms. Of course, this can also be said of suppliers to Wal Mart. There is no guarantee manufacturers will sell their products to your country store on the same terms that they sell to Wal Mart. They might charge you more, making it difficult to compete against the giant. Large customers often get better deals, and Google is likely to be the largest customer for this product. That said, there is nothing in this agreement that suggests the publishers and authors would not make their books available to others in a 63%-37% deal either.

The Open Book Alliance states, the settlement "would allow a group of erstwhile competitors to collectively set prices and leave Google as the only company with the right to copy, display or sell digital versions of orphan works (books for which authors or rights holders cannot be identified or located). Consumers would be better served by a competitive market for digital books that is available to everyone on non-discriminatory terms." That may be true, but no one else is undertaking the efforts necessary to offer these books to the public. In effect, Google is granted a "monopoly" because no one else has yet asked for permission to offer these books. Microsoft scanned about 700,000 books but then dropped the project, evidently concluding it would not be profitable. Google did not force them out of the business; they simply chose to exit. And, as for lack of competition, books have always been subject to such constraints. After all, you can't publish a copyrighted book. For most, there is one publisher who holds a monopoly on publishing rights. That's true of virtually all of these books. At least Google is offering a second way of obtaining these books, rather than having to rely on a monopolistic publisher who may never print another copy of the title you want.

The Alliance objects that community libraries get only one free-access terminal to these books, school libraries none. However, this is more than they have now. They still keep their hard copies, so what is offered, including that one free-access terminal, is incremental. They object that writers lose negotiating rights to their work, but they can still act to withdraw approval at this time. In an ideal world, permission should be sought from them first, but as previously explained, that just doesn't work for millions of books published as long as 86 years ago.

This does not mean that we are without concerns over what could be a monopoly on information. Google has become dominant in search by providing a better product, not by unfair competition. They are now taking their superior product a step further by not just providing the same information available to other searchers in a better manner, but by providing information not accessible to others. That may further solidify their dominance in search and make all of us very dependent on Google for information. That is not a perfect situation, and the government will have to be vigilant less Google someday move from its "do no evil" policy to become the Standard Oil of information. However, for now, it is Google that is investing the most to provide us with information, and Microsoft, Yahoo, and Amazon, which could do the same, would be better served by working with the Internet Archive to develop a competing repository of data. Complaining about how the other guy provides a wonderful new service without providing an alternative is just standing in the way of progress. They need to offer an alternative, or move aside.

Rare Book Monthly

  • DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Freeman’s | Hindman
    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
  • Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!

Article Search

Archived Articles