Government Calls a Halt to Google Books Settlement
- by Michael Stillman
The Open Book Alliance declared a victory.
Does this mean the settlement is "dead," as the Open Book Alliance proclaims. Yes, in its exact current form, but not in principle. Indeed, while the government sees serious issues to be resolved, it obviously believes that such a resolution can be found, and that a settlement that allows orphan and other out-of-print works to be made digitally available is a positive, not a negative, for the public. In its brief to the court, the government states its support of a settlement that allows Google to scan and offer in-copyright books to the public, albeit through a revised agreement: "The United States strongly supports a vibrant marketplace for the electronic distribution of copyrighted works, including in-print, out-of-print, and so-called "orphan" works. The Proposed Settlement has the potential to breathe life into millions of works that are now effectively off limits to the public. By allowing users to search the text of millions of books at no cost, the Proposed Settlement would open the door to new research opportunities." The government clearly wants this process to go forward. We suspect that this differs from some of the objectors who may really want to see this agreement killed, not modified.
The one factor that may continue to make this settlement tricky is the practical one. The government does not want to see Google obtain a monopoly in the business of selling digitized copies of out-of-print but in-copyright books. That is reasonable enough, but who is going to compete with them? Digitizing tens of millions of books is very expensive. This is hardly a certain money-maker. For Google, which seeks to maintain its dominance of the search business and the advertising revenue that comes with it, this project may be financially justifiable for reasons other than the 37% it earns on sales of access to these texts. Google may be able to make additional income through advertising, a set-off of costs not readily available to competitors. Only one other commercial enterprise, Microsoft, has attempted to follow Google into this business, and they abandoned it after 2 years and 700,000 digitized books. If Microsoft can't compete, who can?
Amazon might seem a logical competitor, scanning books to be sold for its Kindle reader. However, while Amazon is likely to want to offer popular books, we doubt whether they will want to invest in scanning millions of books no longer in sufficient demand to justify reprinting, especially those obscure "orphans" likely to be of interest only to some niche researcher, if anyone. Perhaps the most logical competitor is a not-for-profit digital resource such as the Internet Archive. These groups have been loathe to scan anything without preapproval, and their mission has been to provide text to the public free of charge. It would require a change in how they operate, along with a huge infusion of money and volunteer labor, for an organization such as this to provide serious competition to Google.
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.
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.