In a recent interview with Copyright Clearance Center, Allan Adler, Vice President for Legal and Governmental Affairs for the Association of American Publishers (AAP) says the U.S. Department of Justice’s inquiry into the Google Books settlement agreement was not surprising since the settlement “is unprecedented in scope and nature”.

He explains that in addition to resolving pending litigation between Google and the AAP and the Authors Guild, the settlement was “designed deliberately to establish and create a going forward model for authors, publishers and other rightsholders to work with one of the giants of the online world.”

Adler also says the establishment of a Book Rights Registry (BRR) will play an important role in reducing the number of orphan works that exist.

The deadline for copyright holders affected by the settlement to decide whether to participate, to opt out, or to object is September 4.

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