04 March 2009

Google one step closer to realising literary ambitions

A request to print a small ad in a far flung newspaper by an internet giant would typically be approached with trepidation.

So it was that the staff of the Cook Islands News set about adding a half-page advert for Google to its roster, the New York Times reports.

Baffled, Editor John Woods explains, "We were amazed - it came out of nowhere". Indeed, the advertisement, worth a mere $370 would have made little impact for Google, were it not for the $7 million worth of like ads the online giant placed in similar publications around the world.

Google's odd request stems from a federal class-action lawsuit, brought against them by "a large group of authors and publishers," according to the New York Times.

The lobby group were reacting to Google's plan to scan every printed book in existence, creating the most comprehensive online library ever attempted, to be titled Google Book Search.

The group of publishers and authors called foul, citing copyright infringement as a major point of contention in Google's literary master plan.

As part of the settlement, Google now plan to "create a system under which customers will be charged for reading a copyrighted book, with the copyright holder and Google both taking percentages", reports the NYT.

However, Google still had one other major obstacle to overcome: how exactly to get permission
to scan and make available every book to ever have been printed? Would each scanned version constitute a new edition, as modern publishing standards go?

Well, naturally, Google couldn't possibly secure the say-so to go-ahead on every base. So an automatic opt-in system has been adopted, with an easy opt-out option, should the author choose.

The purpose of the Cook Island News advertisement, and similar others, in newspapers, magazines and journals around the world, and in over 70 languages, was to grass root Google's message. The New York Times points out that, "the least that must be done...is let those affected know about it."

Accompanying print advertisements will be an enormous online effort to detail the settlement in 36 languages; a dedicated website for the project - much more Google's domain - and a direct mail campaign.

With only 30 per cent of books scanned ever to have been published in the United States, Google has got its work cut out - let's hope the team doesn't tire of licking stamps any time soon.

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