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The head of a global organisation representing authors and composers has said it would back any of its members that decided to legally challenge the Google Settlement, and has called on the rights registry being set up as part of the Settlement to pro-actively track missing copyright owners.
Speaking ahead of a two-day World Copyright Summit organised by International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) starting today (9th June), its director general Eric Baptiste said he didn't believe that his organisation could challenge the settlement. But, he added that CISAC would support any member that did. Most of CISAC's members work across film and music but it does also have a small number of members who are publishers. Its president is former Bee Gees band member Robin Gibb.
The summit, being held in Washington DC, will cover a range of copyright issues including the Google settlement. Baptiste said that it was positive that Google was recognising copyright and added that Google had contacted CISAC for a briefing on the issues involved. However, he added: "The main problem with this initiative is that it reverses the traditional and legal situation as far as copyright goes - it assumes you make available your work. It's a big burden on the publishers and authors – it's difficult to be omni-cognisant."
The Settlement binds publishers and authors to the agreement unless they actively opt-out. However, by opting-in, rights holders can remove their books from Google's search engine. "That's a bad precedent to set. The opt out is really harsh for authors and publishers – especially the smaller user," Baptiste said.
Baptiste also argued that an independent agency should be made responsible for tracing authors of orphan works – the current proposal is that Google will be able to commercially exploit those works unless an owner comes forward following Google's awareness publicity. He said: "It relies on their good faith. I think my view would be that this new registry [the Books Rights Registry] that will be set up as part of the Settlement should be the ones to decide whether works are orphan or not. Not Google. Otherwise it's quite easy to say 'look I tried to locate them'." He added: "It's like getting a fox to look after the health of the chicken."
Those speaking at the summit include Richard Sarnoff – president of Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments – and David Drummond – senior vice president, corporate development and chief legal officer at Google.
Baptste argued that a major way forward to combat piracy was to develop legal sites that users could download books from. He said: "There are always people trying to get them on the grey or black area of the market if it isn't available legally."
He added: "We need to make sure that content works are available on legal sites that are paid for – it doesn't have to be paid for by the customer it could be paid for by advertisers."
Baptiste pointed to legislation implemented by the French government that provides a graduated response to downloading content in breach of copyright. Those downloading the content get an email warning them about their actions, then they get a registered letter. The third time their connection can be cut.
He added that the "next big" issue would be the role of the network operators. He said: "There is a vested interest in making sure that the value isn't destroyed and in making sure there is investment in new works and talent."