Saturday, August 29, 2009


PROPOSED GOOGLE BOOK SETTLEMENT
LETTERS FROM NZ AUTHOR/BIOGRAPHER DR.LYNLEY HOOD

Dear All
I am opting out of the Proposed Google Book Settlement by mail because I do not want to become an unpaid data-entry clerk for Google by opting out online. I have not listed my titles in the opt-out letter (pasted below) because Google already has them in its database. It has your books in its database too, & every NZ book ever published. If you haven’t studied the pros & cons of opting in or opting out by now, you’d better get onto it. If you do nothing, Google will treat your books as out-of-print & out-of-copyright. Feel free to use my letter as a model if you want to opt-out.

Opt out letters have to be sent by airmail to Minneapolis, postmarked on or before 4 September. The safest & most cost-effective mail delivery is NZ Post International Economy Courier ($25, 4-6 days). There’s room in the courier envelope for lots of opt-out letters, so if any Dunedin authors want to share the cost & the envelope, get your signed opt-out letter to me asap.

Feel free to pass this around local authors - or around out-of-town authors who want to make their own postal arrangements.

Also, let me know if you are opting out - the media is bound to be interested so it would be useful to have a tally.

Thanks
Lynley Hood,

Dr Lynley Hood MSc LittD(Otago)
P.O. Box 2041, South Dunedin, Dunedin 9044, NEW ZEALAND
Ph: +64 3 487 7686, Mob: +63 27 222 9279


Saturday, 29 August 2009
Google Book Settlement Administrator
c/o Rust Consulting
PO Box 9364
Minneapolis, MN 55440-9364
USA

Dear Administrator
NOTIFICATION OF OPT-OUT FROM PROPOSED GOOGLE BOOK SETTLEMENT
I am a New Zealand citizen and a New Zealand author. My books are published by New Zealand publishers. Google has infringed my copyright by digitising my books in their entirety without my knowledge or consent.

My copyright is protected by the New Zealand Copyright Act 1994, by my author-publisher contracts, and by the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Work. An out-of-court settlement between private parties in the US does not have the jurisdiction to over-ride these protections.

I am therefore bound to conclude that, contrary to the claim made by Google, I am not, and never have been, a party to the proposed Settlement.
Nevertheless, for the avoidance of doubt, I am writing to advise you that I AM OPTING OUT of the AUTHOR SUB-CLASS of the manifestly unfair and illegal Proposed Google Book Settlement.
THIS OPT-OUT NOTICE APPLIES TO ALL COPYRIGHT-PROTECTED WORK IN MY NAME (LYNLEY HOOD).
In accordance with the provisions of the New Zealand Copyright Act 1994, and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Work, no past, present or future copyright-protected work by Lynley Hood may be copied or distributed by Google, or by any other party, without my explicit consent.
Please provide written acknowledgement of receipt of this notice.
Yours sincerely

Lynley Hood

FOOTNOTE:
The Google image at the top of this story, which has also appeared on other pieces on this subject posted by Bookman Beattie in recent weeks, was taken from TIME magazine. in a story headed Librarians Fighting Google's Book Deal, by Janet Morrissey Wednesday, Jun. 17, 2009

1 comment:

Gillian Spraggs said...

I advise sending it by certified, trackable mail: the US postal sevice have mislaid my opt-out letter. It reached New York a week ago, then vanished. Enquiries with the settlement administrator have established that it hasn't arrived. I am glad that I paid for a tracked letter.

The settlement administrators have allowed me to send a scanned copy to them as an email attachment. (And I can't see why other people shouldn't do that too, as a back-up for the hard copy sent by the mail. There is an email address for them on the contact details page of the settlement website.)