Unless you are an author, publisher or otherwise connected to the book business, you’ve probably not paid a lot of attention over the past couple of years to what is known as “the Google settlement.” If so, you probably aren’t aware that intellectual property rights, in the form of copyrights, are on the brink of being confiscated by Google.

It all started when Google decided that it wanted to create a universal, all-encompassing digital library – to literally convert every single book to a digital format and eventually sell them as downloads.

So far, Google has converted some 10 million titles. Some of these titles are still under copyright to authors and publishers, but Google ignored these fundamental property rights. It announced that an author could “opt out” of this process, but otherwise Google would continue to scan each and every book into its digital library, controlled exclusively by Google.

Various author and publishing organizations filed suit against Google, and this lawsuit is known as “the Google settlement.” Basically, Google would pay $60 to an author/publisher for unrestricted use of a copyrighted book, making it incumbent on the copyright holder to “opt out.”

The Google settlement is still before the court, but it appears that Google is going to win, at least on the essential elements of the lawsuit, thus giving it free rein to ignore our centuries-old copyright laws and eventually sell copyrighted books for its own profit.

How could such a blatant confiscation of intellectual property rights happen? Well, Google claims it’s for our own collective good – the common good of having a digital copy of every book ever published far outweighs any semblance of property rights that may still exist in our digital society. And, the court seems to be buying that argument.

A glimmer of hope – the French courts have recently ruled against Google in a similar lawsuit in that country, forbidding Google from scanning any book written by a French author or published by a French publisher, and cannot use any such books already scanned into its digital library.

Why should you care? Simple – how many publishers do you think can stay in business if the books they publish can be confiscated for $60? And, how many authors do you think will be willing to write a book for $60?

The answer is also simple – none.

Many of you who’ve been reading this column over the years think that I have a fascination with jousting at windmills. You may be right, but acknowledging the many benefits of our digital world and internet obsessions, we are rapidly moving into a new world of limited choices and the elimination of intellectual property rights.

The book industry watched the music industry go down this same path a decade ago and arrogantly said, “That won’t happen to us.” But it is happening, more than you may realize.

And what’s to stop Google, or any other virtual behemoth, from deciding that it would be in our best interest for it to scan all patents into a new digital patent library?