by Search Copywriter
Y. Sulaiman
Y. Sulaiman
It's been just six months since Google announced its multi-million dollar agreement with the Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers, a move that was heralded as a landmark stage in the development of Google Book Search. But this week, news has emerged that the online giant could be facing renewed legal investigations into the project - this time, however, the charge is anti-competitive behaviour, rather than copyright infringement.The service, which Google hopes will be an "iTunes for Books", looked to be on track in October last year following two years of negotiations, after a $125 million deal with the AAP gave Mountain View the right to digitise millions of books in the United States. Revenue generated by displaying the books, selling access to individual texts and offering libraries and institutions subscriptions to entire collections would be split between Google, authors and publishers. However, despite being hailed as "a great leap" by founding father Sergey Brin, it seems copyright concerns over Google Book Search still prevailed. 'Orphan books' - those still under copyright but with no clear owner - proved to be of particular concern, as the deal meant Google would receive the exclusive rights to such works.
With such issues still abounding, it was perhaps only a matter of time before Google Book Search was the subject of legal proceedings once again and yesterday, the New York Times revealed that the US Justice Department had begun an inquiry into the antitrust implications of Google's settlement with the AAP. According to the newspaper, no decision has yet been taken to file a court action against the settlement, but the move must come as a blow to Google, who had perhaps hoped its Book Search woes were over.
The complaints don't come from the majority of authors and publishers, who have defended the settlement and claim that it will offer access to millions of out of print books. However, another spanner was thrown into the cogs of Google's Book Search project yesterday when a New York judge overseeing the settlement gave authors four extra months to decide whether or not they would like to opt out of the Google-AAP deal. The original deadline was slated for May 5 2009, but many authors and heirs of deceased writers argued that the relevant parties needed more time to review the terms of the agreement.
In the meantime, the publishing world won't stop for Google to get its literary act together. Amazon's second generation e-book reader Kindle has been gaining ground since its release earlier this year. And days after the one billionth iPhone app was downloaded, it's been revealed that the online retail giant - which offers a "Kindle for iPhone" app - has acquired Stanza, the much more popular e-book reading app on Apple's flagship mobile device.
What's more, last week's unveiling of the Espresso Book Machine at the London Book Fair and its subsequent placing in Blackwell's Charing Cross branch has made physical on-demand books a reality for consumers; some analysts are even touting it as a competitor to Kindle. So while the future of Google Book Search remains ever so slightly uncertain, that the publishing landscape will be dramatically altered when - and if - it launches appears to be in no doubt at all.
