Google Book Settlement: More on Opting Out

[wolfinthewood]

The United States postal service has lost track of my priority certified airmail letter opting out of the settlement. I rang the settlement administrator's office to see if it had arrived – no joy. I am glad I checked.

I was told I could scan my letter and send it as an email attachment.

Meanwhile, having one of the administrator's staff on the phone, I thought I'd check up on a couple of points.

He confirmed that, yes, if there is anyone who has opted in and registered their work and then regretted this and wished they had opted out after all, it is still possible to opt out: up until 4 September. An opt-out now will nullify an earlier opt-in.

The reverse is also true.

He also confirmed that you don't have to list your works in order to opt out, though if you want Google to remove them from its Book Search (or transfer them to the Partner Program if you prefer) it is the convenient way to do it. But if you are pushed for time you can opt out and sort out your publications after the deadline.

***

Instead of being quickly indexed and then mysteriously vanishing, my posts are now arriving in Google's search index a full week after I post them.

***

For a bit of light relief, I have been studying the history of copyright. Well, it is more fun than the settlement agreement.

The Swedish writer Karl-Erik Tallmo has a very good site on the subject with some useful documents. It includes a facsimile and transcript of the first ever copyright statute, An Act for the Encouragement of Learning (1710).

Whereas Printers, Booksellers, and other Persons, have of late frequently taken the Liberty of Printing, Reprinting, and Publishing, or causing to be Printed, Reprinted, and Published Books, and other Writings, without the Consent of the Authors or Proprietors of such Books and Writings, to their very great Detriment, and too often to the Ruin of them and their Families: For Preventing therefore such Practices for the future, and for the Encouragement of Learned Men to Compose and Write useful Books; May it please Your Majesty, that it may be Enacted, and be it Enacted by the Queens most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That from and after the Tenth Day of April, One thousand seven hundred and ten, the Author of any Book or Books already Printed, who hath not Transferred to any other the Copy or Copies of such Book or Books, Share or Shares thereof, or the Bookseller or Booksellers, Printer or Printers, or other Person or Persons, who hath or have Purchased or Acquired the Copy or Copies of any Book or Books, in order to Print or Reprint the same, shall have the sole Right and Liberty of Printing such Book and Books for the Term of One and twenty Years, to Commence from the said Tenth Day of April, and no longer; and that the Author of any Book or Books already Composed and not Printed and Published, or that shall hereafter be Composed, and his Assignee, or Assigns, shall have the sole Liberty of Printing and Reprinting such Book and Books for the Term of fourteen Years, to Commence from the Day of the First Publishing the same, and no longer; And that if any other Bookseller, Printer, or other Person whatsoever, from and after the Tenth Day of April, One thousand seven hundred and ten, within the times Granted and Limited by this Act, as aforesaid, shall Print, Reprint, or Import, or cause to be Printed, Reprinted, or Imported any such Book or Books, without the Consent of the Proprietor or Proprietors thereof first had and obtained in Writing, Signed in the Presence of Two or more Credible Witnesses; or knowing the same to be so Printed or Reprinted, without the Consent of the Proprietors, shall Sell, Publish, or Expose to Sale, or cause to be Sold, Published, or Exposed to Sale, any such Book or Books, without such Consent first had and obtained, as aforesaid, Then such Offender or Offenders shall Forfeit such Book or Books, and all and every Sheet or Sheets, being part of such Book or Books, to the Proprietor or Proprietors of the Copy thereof, who shall forthwith Damask and make Waste-Paper of them: And further, That every such Offender or Offenders, shall Forfeit One Peny for every sheet which shall be found in his, her, or their Custody, either Printed or Printing, Published or Exposed to Sale, contrary to the true intent and meaning of this Act, the one Moiety thereof to the Queens most Excellent Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, and the other Moiety thereof to any Person or Persons that shall Sue for the same, to be Recovered in any of Her Majesties Courts of Record at Westminster … Provided always, That after the Expiration of the said Term of Fourteen Years, the sole Right of Printing or Disposing of Copies shall return to the Authors thereof, if they are then Living, for another Term of Fourteen Years.