The lawsuit over Google Books is back on track for trial but purposely with enough time to allow the parties involved to keep negotiating a settlement. In a New York City courtroom today, Judge Denny Chin heard from Google, the Authors Guild and the American Association Of Publishers about progress in talks. Bloomberg reports that Jeannine Daralyn Durie, a lawyer for Google, told the judge that the company has made "substantial progress" in talks with publishers. The American Association of Publishers also says talks are advancing: “Today, we informed the court that the Association [...]

Related Topics: Google: Book Search

Hachette Livre, the largest book publisher in France, has reached a book-scanning agreement with Google (actually it did last year; this is an update). The New York Times reports that while other publishers in France are still suing Google for scanning their copyrighted material without permission, the Hachette deal may provide a framework for other agreements, in France and the US. The Google book-scanning class-action settlement in the US was rejected earlier this year by the presiding judge Denny Chin, who has given the parties until mid September to come up with a new settlement framewo [...]

Related Topics: Google: Book Search | Google: Legal | Google: Outside US | Legal: Copyright

When "Harry Potter" series author J.K. Rowling announced she would finally allow e-book versions of her titles to be sold, though exclusively on the soon-to-be-launched Pottermore.com, it was noted that the move bypassed retailers like Amazon.com. Google has managed to get in on the action, however -- at least from a PR perspective -- as the books will be published in its open Google eBooks format, which can be accessed through 80 e-readers, along with browsers and smartphone apps. Google's publisher partners don't typically share revenue with the company, and the company has said it won't [...]

Related Topics: Google: Book Search

A Google attorney told a federal judge today that the two sides involved in the long-running Google Book Search lawsuit settlement are negotiating an "opt-in settlement" in an attempt to finally put the case to rest. As The Laboratorium reports, Google's attorney Michael Boni told Judge Dennis Chin that both sides "have been aiming for an opt-in settlement." That would likely please Chin, who specifically suggested when he rejected the original settlement in March that an opt-in settlement would be a good idea: As the United States and other objectors have noted, many of the concerns rai [...]

Related Topics: Google: Book Search | Google: Legal | Legal: Copyright

Now within Google eBooks you can search, define and translate words within the book using the click of your mouse. Using the Google eBooks Web Reader, which works in all modern browsers, you can highlight words with your mouse and select from a contextual menu to Define, Translate, Search Book, Search Google and Search Wikipedia. A pretty useful tool when trying to find where certain words were used elsewhere in the book, plus the obvious look up features for definitions and translation. Give it a try on Vanessa Fox's book, Marketing in the Age of Google and then click on "Vi [...]

Related Topics: Google: Book Search