Google's book settlement makes 'mockery' of copyright law

[forum_admin]

Google's proposed book settlement with book authors and publishers, allowing the company to digitize and sell millions of books, makes a "mockery" of copyright protections in the U.S. Constitution, the head of the U.S. Copyright Office said Thursday.

The Google book settlement, the subject of a court hearing next month, allows Google to scan out-of-print books without permission from copyright owners, creating a sort of compulsory license, said Marybeth Peters, register of copyrights at the U.S. Copyright Office. The settlement "allows Google to continue to scan millions of books into the future and permits Google to engage in a number of activities ... that are indisputably acts of copyright infringement," Peters told the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee.

The settlement seeks to circumvent "full public debate" and Congress' authority to change copyright law by allowing Google new rights for digital books, she added.

Read more: Official: Book settlement makes 'mockery' of copyright law

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