Google will open up its vast digital books archive to rival retailers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Microsoft, who can access the books and sell them online. Now Retailers will be able to sell access to the online archive to users on any Internet-connected device.
The move involves Google’s Book Search project to bring books to the Internet and in a proposed settlement of class-action suits that author and publisher groups brought against the project.
Under the proposed settlement, Google would get 37 percent of revenue from e-books sold through its service, and through the reseller program, the reseller would get “the significant majority” of that 37 percent.
If the settlement is approved, Google would get the right to sell not just books for which it had explicit agreements with rights holders, but also for out-of-print books that still are in copyright for which Google doesn’t have explicit permission.
Microsoft, Yahoo, and the Internet Archive among others, oppose the deal, saying it gives Google too much power over the world’s information.
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