Google, Authors Win

Google is coughing up $125 million to US authors and publishers for the right to include excerpts from over 4 million out-of-print books in its online search results.

The pact - two years in the making and still subject to court approval - settles a pair of copyright-infringement lawsuits brought against the company in 2005 over its Google Book Search service.

Most publishers already have deals in place with Google that allow users to search for in-print titles - such as Alan Greenspan's "The Age Of Turbulence," for instance - and preview select passages.

The agreement establishes a new market for out-of-print books by creating a framework that allows authors and publishers to be compensated.

The publishing industry has complained that Google's efforts to scan out-of-print books and make them searchable on the Web - an initiative that went unchecked even after the lawsuits were filed - constituted unauthorized distribution of their works.

Under the settlement, Google will allow individuals to preview up to 20 percent of a book online on an ad-supported basis. Google also will sell access to individual pages and complete works directly to consumers.

In addition, Google will license out-of-print works in their entirety to libraries and institutions - a move that is expected to be a big win for many smaller libraries because it allows them to dramatically expand the amount of information they can offer.

Pricing terms have not yet been set, but publishers and authors will take 63 percent of revenue, while Google will keep the remaining 37 percent. Licensing deals are expected to follow a similar split.

The $125 million that Google is paying on a one-time basis to the publishers will go toward the creation of a new Book Rights Registry to resolve existing claims by authors and publishers and to cover legal fees. The registry will take an administration fee between 10 percent and 20 percent from the publishers' 63 percent cut.

The deal resolves a 2005 class-action suit brought by the Authors Guild, and a separate suit filed by five large publishers on behalf of the Association of American Publishers. Those publishers include McGraw-Hill, Pearson Education, Penguin Group, John Wiley & Sons and Simon & Schuster.

It also clears the way for Google to dramatically expand the number of books that can be searched through to expand the library to some 20 million titles in the coming years.