[blindlaw] An Overview of Important Points About the Google Proposed Settlement

[David Andrews]

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>An Overview of Important Points About the Google Proposed Settlement
>The Authors Guild, Inc., et. al. v. Google, Inc.  Proposed Settlement
>Agreement
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>Overview
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>Google, in partnership with leading libraries has been creating a massive
>electronic books database of millions of titles.  The settlement of the suit
>against Google, if approved, will resolve lawsuits brought on behalf of a
>broad class of authors and publishers against Google for copyright
>infringement allegations in connection with the Google Book Project.  The
>agreement will significantly expand online access to works through Google
>Book Search from the collections of major U.S. libraries and will also
>enhance the ability of authors and publishers to distribute their content in
>digital form.  All of the services that will result from this settlement for
>the public will be accessible to all blind and print-disabled persons,
>although Google will have up to five years after the settlement is finally
>approved to deliver access.  What this settlement will do is expand by
>millions of volumes the number of books that blind and other print-disabled
>readers will have available to them to purchase, check out from certain
>participating libraries or read at public libraries.
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>After final approval, the settlement will authorize Google to do the
>following:
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>*     Continue to scan in-copyright books
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>*     Develop an electronic books database
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>*     Provide responses to searches in the database (already accessible)
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>*     For books in the database that are no longer commercially available
>for sale and for commercially available books whose authors choose to
>participate,
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>       *     Sell individual books to consumers in digital form; and
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>       *     Sell institutional subscriptions to the books database to
>schools, corporations and other institutions
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>*     With respect to libraries, the settlement will authorize Google to
>provide public and higher education libraries with free access to the books
>database and special terminals will be provided free to every public library
>in the country.
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>How will the Agreement Affect the Blind and Others with Print Disabilities?
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>.        The Agreement expressly authorizes Google to provide the material
>it offers users "in a manner that accommodates users with Print Disabilities
>so that such users have a substantially similar user experience as users
>without Print Disabilities."  A user with a Print Disability under the
>agreement is one who is "unable to read or use standard printed material due
>to blindness, visual disability, physical limitations, organic function, or
>dyslexia."  The material covered includes material provided by Google
>through institutional subscriptions, public access services, and consumer
>purchases, as well as the material Google displays as snippets, book
>previews, and the pages in front of and behind the books (such as the table
>of contents and index).
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>.        Google expresses its intention within the agreement to make digital
>copies of the books accessible to users with Print Disabilities so that such
>users have a substantially similar user experience as users without Print
>Disabilities.  To the extent Google is unable to do so, Google will
>reasonably cooperate to enable such access to books through an Alternative
>Accommodated Service Provider.
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>.        The Agreement also places upon Google the obligation to offer the
>books in an accessible format at no greater cost to users with Print
>Disabilities.   Specifically, Google must use commercially reasonable
>efforts to enable an "accommodated service" to users of Google's
>institutional subscriptions, public access services, consumer purchases and
>other revenue models.  An "accommodated service" means a service that offers
>the text of books and inserts in the form of electronic text used in
>conjunction with screen enlargement, voice output, and refreshable Braille
>displays (or at Google's option and with the Registry's approval, other
>technologies to reasonably accommodate Print Disabilities) at no greater
>charge than the charge to view Books in a similar manner to users without a
>Print Disability.
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>.        For Institutional Subscription users with Print Disabilities,
>Google must offer an Accommodated Service for all books in the Institutional
>Subscription Database for which Google's automated OCR system is successful.
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>.        Further, Google must not unreasonably withhold its consent to a
>request from a Fully Participating library to work with particular
>third-party contractors to provide access to the full text of the Books and
>Inserts as described under "Accommodated Service" and to improve the quality
>of such Books (e.g. OCR quality and structure extraction) for the purpose of
>providing such access.
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>.        If within 5 years from the Effective Date of the Agreement Google
>has not complied, or ceases to comply, with its obligation to offer an
>accommodated service, upon notice by the Fully Participating Libraries,
>Google must use commercially reasonable efforts to identify and work with an
>alternative provider to readily provide copies of Books and Inserts
>requested by the alternative provider solely for the purpose of making those
>books accessible to users with Print Disabilities.
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>How will Users with Print Disabilities' who use the Services of Google's
>Partner Libraries be Affected?
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>*     Libraries that have Digitization Agreements with Google are authorized
>to permit users with Print Disabilities to borrow digital copies of the
>library's collection.  The digital copy must be accessible when used in
>conjunction with screen enlargement, voice output, or refreshable Braille
>displays.  Certified users must agree to refrain from using, reproducing or
>distributing the book in an unlawful manner and the library must maintain
>data about its provision of "special access" to certified users.