The Google Book search settlement: A law and economics analysis

Frank Müller-Langer and Marc Scheufen
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Mueller-Langer

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Beginning in December 2004 Google has pursued a new project to create a book search engine (Google Book Search). The project has released a storm of controversy around the globe. While the supporters of Google Book Search conceive the project as a first reasonable step towards unlimited access to knowledge in the information age, its opponents fear profound negative effects due to an erosion of copyright law. Our law and economics analysis of the Book Search Project suggests that – from a copyright perspective – the proposed settlement may be beneficial to right holders, consumers, and Google. For instance, it may provide a solution to the still unsolved dilemma of orphan works. From a competition policy perspective, we stress the important aspect that Google’s pricing algorithm for orphan and unclaimed works effectively replicates a competitive Nash-Bertrand market outcome under post-settlement, third-party oversight.

Keywords: Book Rights Registry; Competition Policy; Copyright; Fair Use; Google Book Search; Library Program; Orphan Works (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: K11 K20 K21 L43 O34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-06-15
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com, nep-cul, nep-ict, nep-ipr, nep-pr~, nep-law and nep-ppm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published in Review of Economic Research on Copyright Issues 1.8(2011): pp. 7-50

Downloads: (external link)
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/35705/1/MPRA_paper_35705.pdf original version (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:35705

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany Ludwigstraße 33, D-80539 Munich, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Joachim Winter ().