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The Google Settlement will open up "new avenues" for writers to make money from out of print works "within a legal framework", representatives of the British and US book world have said.
Speaking in London today, Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild, said he was confident rightsholders to the majority of so-called "orphan works" would be remunerated properly, as the system is already in place to pay for licensed use of out of print works, such as photocopying.
He said: "The [Authors' Licensing Collecting Society] pays the [US-based] Authors Registry for use of US works, and we have to find the authors and pay them, which is why we are so confident they can be found... It is an active model for us, something we can use.
"We hope through the settlement to be able to return the favour and start paying back money the other way across the Atlantic."
Owen Atkinson, chief executive of the ALCS, said in the 25 years the society had been active, 55-60% of the works it had collected monies for had been out of print works. "More than 97.5% of the money we collected has been paid back," he added. "The truth is it's not difficult to do."
Atkinson said that at least 20,000 authors represented by the society were affected by the settlement, and that "most" were happy to take part.
"Writers want their works to be used," he said. "The settlement gives them a new avenue for that [to happen]."
Mark Le Fanu, secretary general of the Society of Authors, said he was "happy to echo" the ALCS' view.
The Google settlement took a step closer to being agreed upon this weekend, after a number of changes were placed with a US court late on Friday (13th November) evening.
Rightsholders from the UK, Australia and Canada were named as plaintiffs, after it was agreed that only countries with a shared "common legal heritage and similar book industry practices" would be included. The settlement also makes it clear that books which are for sale as new internationally are considered commercially available, meaning Google will not display any of their content by default.
This reduced the number of works affected by roughly 60%, as the majority of the works digitised by Google - which totalled 10m at May 2009 - were foreign language. Although the PA came out in support of the deal, the Open Book Alliance, which includes Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo, has already criticised it as being a "sleight of hand" move.
Speaking today, Aiken, Atkinson and the PA's Simon Juden acknowledged the likelihood of an appeal, with Juden reiterating the PA's view it could be two-to-three years before the settlement becomes effective.
"It is reasonable to say the settlement will be opposed," he said.
But Aiken added the major challenge for publishers and authors alike was Amazon. "The settlement is just about making out of print books available . . . creating a new market where there wasn't one before," he said. "[But] almost all revenues are still going to come from in print books."
Citing rough figures from within the US—where Amazon has 75% of the market share "and Google has approximately zero"—Aiken added "no one" expected the revised to deal to change the current landscape of book retailing. "As far as market share goes, there is no contest. Google entering the market for out of print books just doesn't change the equation."