The Open Book Alliance Is against Google Book Settlement

Google, the Authors Guild, and the Association of American Publishers described e-book settlement proposal as ‘a deeply flawed legal agreement’ that led to a negative reaction of the Open book Alliance.

The OBA is an association of librarians, legal scholars, authors, publishers, and technology companies that are against Google Book Settlement. The association considers that Google, the AAP, and the AG are trying to divert people from their exertions to struggle against digital content access and distribution and also pre-empt Congress’s role establishing copyright policy.

The OBA complains that digitization of books is considered to be an opportunity to unbar huge volumes of shared cultural knowledge and it also gives a possibility to make books searchable, readable, and downloadable.

There were written a set of requirements by the Open Book Alliance, the main aim of which was not to confer Google an exceptional set of rights or do not give one entity gaining control over access to and dispensation of the world’s largest digital database of books.

The OBA also considers that the settlement is made only for the private commercial interests of Google and its partners. Also it was added that no changes were made by the Department of Justice and other critics that impact public interest despite the fact that there were propped several alterations.