“Book” means a written or printed work that (a) if a “United States work,” as defined in 17 U.S.C. § 101, has been registered with the United States Copyright Office as of the Notice Commencement Date, (b) on or before the Notice Commencement Date, was as of January 5, 2009 (a) had been published or distributed to the public or made available for public access as a set of written or printed sheets of paper bound together in hard copy form under the authorization of the work’s U.S. copyright owner, and (c) as of the Notice Commencement Date, is (b) was subject to a Copyright Interest, and (c) (1) if a “United States work,” as defined in 17 U.S.C. § 101, was registered with the United States Copyright Office and (2) if not a United States
work, either (x) was registered with the United States Copyright Office, or (y) had a place
of publication in Canada, the United Kingdom or Australia, as evidenced by information
printed in or on a hard copy of the work. Relevant information printed in or on a hard
copy of the work may include, for example, a statement that the book was “Published in
[Canada] or [the UK] or [Australia],” or the location or address of the publisher in one of
those three countries. The term “Book” does not include: (i) Periodicals, (ii) personal papers (e.g., unpublished diaries or bundles of notes or letters), (iii) written or printed works in which more than thirty-fivetwenty percent (3520%) of the pages of text (not
including tables of contents, indices, blank pages, title pages, copyright pages and verso
pages) contain more than fiftytwenty percent (5020%) music notation and, with or without lyrics interspersed, if any (for purpose of this calculation, “music notation” means notes on a staff or tablature), (iv) written or printed works in, or as they become in, the public domain under the Copyright Act in the United States, or (v) Government Works, or (vi) calendars. References in this Settlement Agreement to a Book include all Inserts contained in the Book, except where this Settlement Agreement provides otherwise.
The Authors Guild guidelines on eligibility for membership state: ‘Book authors must be published by an established American publisher.’ Huge numbers of foreign authors whose rights would be affected by the settlement (if it is ratified) are not only not members of the Authors Guild; because they have never been published in the US, they are not even eligible to belong to it. I understand (from listening to Pamela Samuelson’s lecture ‘Reflections on the Google Booksearch Settlement’) that before the settlement agreement can be finally ratified by the court, the judge must be satisfied that the plaintiffs are fully representative of the settlement class. Surely this fact by itself makes it clear that they are not, and cannot be.