No Deal For Google Books Settlement

On Thursday, Sept. 24 the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York indefinitely delayed the settlement between Google and the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers, and other plaintiffs. The suit was over the company’s plans to scan all of the books from major libraries and include them in a database. Authors and publishers had protested copyright infringement, but after two years an agreement was reached.

Now, the plaintiffs have filed and been granted a motion to delay, which Google did not oppose, because of growing criticism of the proposed settlement. On Friday Sept. 18, the U.S. Justice Department asked the New York court to reject the deal citing “class action, copyright, and antitrust” issues.

Learning Platforms for the 21st Century and Beyond

The 2009 AEP Summit session “Learning Platforms for the 21st Century and Beyond,” presented three different cutting-edge technologies that could be used to deliver content to students. Jeff Keltner from Google, Laura Porco from Amazon.com, and Michael Riordan from the Open Publishing Lab at Rochester Institute of Technology discussed why classroom technology is 10 years behind the consumer world and how their products could be used in the education market.

All speakers agreed that the students are the biggest driving force behind advancing the technology in the classroom. Keltner said that for every generation, technology is what is invented after the students were born. Reflecting the advancements of iPhones, laptops, and social media sites, students expect their education to be mobile, use multimedia, and have the ability to involve the community. Riordan concurred that students are asking their teachers to use educational technology that lets them learn together; they want teachers to abandon podium-style lectures for a dialogue.

How Fair Use Enables Media Literacy to Thrive

When educational publishers hear the term fair use, they often brace themselves for the argument that teachers should be able to copy, post, and reuse the material without permission as long as it’s for educational use. However, when Renee Hobbs of Temple University’s Media Education Lab and Peter Jaszi of the Washington College of Law, American University, spoke at the 2009 AEP Summit they explained that while the principle of Fair Use is important in education and educational materials, it does not trump a publisher’s copyright. In fact, in their breakout session, “How Fair Use Enables Media Literacy to Thrive,” they presented a compelling case for how Fair Use can actually help publishers enhance their own products and resources.

Over the last 25-30 years copyright has become a dynamic field. Copyright lasts longer, covers more material, and the penalties are much higher. The courts–including the Supreme Court–have said, though, that what keeps copyright from impinging on free speech and the First Amendment is fair use.
Fair use is a legal doctrine that allows for the unlicensed, unauthorized, and uncompensated use of copyrighted material when the social and cultural benefits exceed the costs imposed by private parties. While there are four parts to fair use–nature of use, type of use, amount used, and the economic effect–Jaszi said that the courts really look for two critical standards when applying the concept.

Publishers Still Need to Police Web for Digital Piracy

Although the recent convictions of the Pirate Bay founders and financier were a victory for copyright protection, this is only one out of many file-sharing, self-publishing, and peer-to-peer sites on the web. And while some sites like the Pirate Bay proudly and vocally violate copyright law, there are also sites like Scribd.com and esnips.com that say they support copyright, but they do not actively search for illegal materials. Unfortunately, as many AEP members have discovered, the onus is still on the publisher to monitor the web for infringement.

Key Principles for Publishing for the Digital Future

Over the past year experts in the educational publishing industry contributed to the AEP series, “Publishing for the Digital Future.” From trends in the classroom, to marketing and pricing strategies, to professional development in the new era, the series focused on highlighting actions that publishers could take now. Below is a list of action principles culled from the series. You can comment on any of the principles or read the entries in this blog under the category Publishing for the Digital Future.