Partner Frank Scibilia Speaks to E-Commerce Times About Visual Artists and Google Settlement
Pryor Cashman Partner Frank Scibilia spoke to E-Commerce Times for its April 8, 2010 article "Visual Artists Crave Piece of Google Books Pie." The article reports that while photographers and illustrators don't want to prevent Google from undertaking its ambitious book-scanning project, they do want to establish a way to collect what they view as their fair share of profits.
"Google has reversed the publishing process by scanning books and making copies available on the Internet," said Scibilia, a member of Pryor Cashman’s Intellectual Property and Entertainment Groups. "Usually, publishers work to get the rights to photos or illustrations before reproduction. Google has turned that process on its head. Since the visual artists have filed their own class action infringement lawsuit, they are now in a position to make a deal with Google.
According to Scibilia: "If Google doesn't want to make a deal, Google is going to have a problem. They will need to either figure out all of the photographs ahead of time or take the risk that the court will find this to be an unfair use," which could cost millions of dollars. Google, therefore, might decide to settle, he said. "It would seem that Google wouldn't want to litigate when they are in the middle of a class action settlement with publishers."
To read the article, please click here.
