Abstract:
Topic of this paper is the Google Books Settlement. It discusses the copyright issues of
copyright owners outside the United States concerning this settlement and concerning the amended
settlement through using the examples of Germany and New Zealand. It shows that the amended
agreement provides significant disadvantages for foreign rights holders. The amended settlement
agreement (ASA) is in some points even worse for foreign copyright holders compared to the original
settlement as it creates legal uncertainty. The scope of application of the ASA is linked to the place of
publication of books. However, the agreement does not provide a sufficient definition of the place of
publication and it is hard to know whether a book has been registered with the United States
Copyright Office, especially for foreign rights holders. Finally, the paper criticises that both the
original and the amended agreement do not represent foreign authors properly.
As a result, the paper concludes that the ASA violates different international treaties such as
the TRIPS and the Berne Convention. Compared to the original agreement, the ASA is a burden
especially for foreign rights holders
