It's taken two years but Google has finally struck a landmark deal with the Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers to significantly expand its innovative Book Search project.The $125 million (£80 million) agreement sees the settlement of various copyright lawsuits filed against Google since it started the Google Book Search project four years ago. It means that millions of books - both those that are out-of-print and in-print, in-copyright works - will be made available for browsing and purchase through Google Book Search.
Crucially, the deal involves the establishment of the Book Rights Registry, a non-profit organisation that will ensure copyrighted works are given compensation through ad revenue or subscription services. As a result, out-of-print books that have little or no commercial viability today are likely to benefit considerably, while in-copyright works could find new revenue streams from untapped audiences.
But what does that mean for users? Essentially, the new and improved Google Book Search will offer users the option to view publications in their entirety or on a page-by-page basis for a fee, although free samples of chosen titles may also be made available. Online readers will be able to create an "online bookshelf", with the chance to buy lifetime rights to read and print scanned books through Google Book Search. What's more, a subscription service is also being set up by the search engine, so free access can be provided by institutions such as universities and libraries.
David Drummond, Google's Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and its Chief Legal Officer, said on the official Google blog: "Before [Google] was even founded, Larry and Sergey imagined a way to make it easier for anyone, anywhere to access the information held within the world's books. Search simply isn't complete without that content, and providing more access to more books is a vision Google has never lost sight of."
Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild, added that the deal represents "the biggest book deal in US publishing history". However, it still needs to be approved by a US federal court judge in Manhattan before it can officially go ahead. If the judge grants Google clearance to embark on the project, it will certainly mark a huge step forward in its quest to organise the world's information and make it universally accessible, while at the same time creating a revolutionary new frontier in the way we preserve our literary history.
