08 February 2009

Google Book Settlement

I stumbled across news of the Google Book Settlement today - I had no idea that a massive lawsuit had been filed against Google Books for copyright infringement, as a result of their drive to digitise books and make them available for free online. I had a quick read through the material on the site today, and was a bit overwhelmed by the legalese. But there seems to be some suggestion that all those owning a US copyright interest in a book or insert (e.g. quotations, photographs, etc.) may be covered by this settlement.

As theses are classed as books under the terms of this lawsuit, I'm wondering how this might affect me personally (if at all). Typing my name into Google Books returns records of both my theses, as well as a sprinkling of other publications to which I contributed in the past, or in which my work has been cited. Are any of my academic friends out there aware of this settlement, and what the implications might be?

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