Gillian Spraggs has the scoop. The parties seem to have used the opportunity to expand the diversity of the named plaintiffs in ways that go beyond just nationality. For example, Daniel Baum was a law professor for twenty-six years.
Re Rightsholders:
RH defined as Settlement class not opted out Amended Settlement Class = Copyright has interest
Why does the Supplemental notice address RH who are not in the Amended Settlement Class? Surely that isn’t actually possible, or do they mean undefined term to refer to owners of US copyrights?
Still its not the United Nations-I am not sure if there are class reps from Australia/New Zealand, from which there have been filed objections on behalf of authors, agents and publishers. Canada already has a BRR copyright clearance group and this group should consider whether it needs its toes stepped on by the proposed BRR. As for Britain, I expect fur to fly there, as the chattering authors, who are educated and sophisticated on the complex issues of publishing and the internet will now dig their claws in deeply , as the situation and crises warrants. I note now there is a role for the US Copyright Clearance Center, which I suggested to them several months ago. Will this make the BRR redundent? As for the Authors Guild, I note the very strong complaint filed by Historian Massie, a former AG President, who told the court he thought the GBS was the greatest copyright grab since Soviet Russia, clearly a statement within his field of expertise. Is there still a schism in the Authors Guild on this?
The Writers Union of Canada has revealed that it was invited ‘to assist the Authors Guild in finding an author to be the class representative of Canadian authors’, but declined.
Now if only The Writers’ Union Of Canada could convince the Canadian government to hold an inquiry into the Google books project and settlement to make sure Canadian’s copyrights were not and will not be violated. Douglas Fevens, Halifax, Nova Scotia The University of Wisconsin, Google, & Me