Post by Roderick on Sept 23, 2009 20:43:10 GMT 12
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Wednesday September 23, 12:43 PM
Authors seek delay in Google books settlement
NEW YORK, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Authors and publishers asked a U.S. judge on Tuesday to delay a hearing on whether to approve a controversial settlement that would allow Google to create a massive online digital library.
The request by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers was unopposed by Google and follows a U.S. Justice Department filing on Friday that urged the judge to reject the deal.
The settlement is an effort to resolve a 2005 lawsuit over Google's plan, and a hearing is scheduled for Oct. 7 ADVERTISEMENT
The authors and publishers said the parties wanted to work with the Justice Department to resolve its concerns. They requested a Nov. 6 status hearing in the case.
Google agreed with the delay request. "We are considering the points raised by the Department of Justice and others, and we look forward to addressing them as the court proceedings continue," it said in a statement.
Critics of the deal, including the Open Book Alliance, which includes Google's tech rival Microsoft and the Internet Archive, which is also scanning books, were thrilled.
The alliance said the delay request was an enormous loss for Google, which had been saying for months that no changes were necessary. "Now, that settlement, as we know it, is dead," the group said in a statement.
But one antitrust attorney, Evan Stewart, said it was more likely that Google was trying to resolve issues.
"It seems like they're trying to get this deal done and seems from a business standpoint that it's a good thing for them to do," Stewart said.
The Justice Department said in its filing Friday that the court should encourage the parties to modify the settlement so that it complies with copyright and antitrust laws, including the distribution of orphan works -- books which are in copyright but the rights holder cannot be located.
Under the terms of the proposed settlement, Google will pay $125 million to create a Book Rights Registry, where authors and publishers register works and are paid for books and other publications that the search giant would put online.
(Reporting by Grant McCool and Diane Bartz; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)
Summary | AFP | NZPA | Reuters
Wednesday September 23, 12:43 PM
Authors seek delay in Google books settlement
NEW YORK, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Authors and publishers asked a U.S. judge on Tuesday to delay a hearing on whether to approve a controversial settlement that would allow Google to create a massive online digital library.
The request by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers was unopposed by Google and follows a U.S. Justice Department filing on Friday that urged the judge to reject the deal.
The settlement is an effort to resolve a 2005 lawsuit over Google's plan, and a hearing is scheduled for Oct. 7 ADVERTISEMENT
The authors and publishers said the parties wanted to work with the Justice Department to resolve its concerns. They requested a Nov. 6 status hearing in the case.
Google agreed with the delay request. "We are considering the points raised by the Department of Justice and others, and we look forward to addressing them as the court proceedings continue," it said in a statement.
Critics of the deal, including the Open Book Alliance, which includes Google's tech rival Microsoft and the Internet Archive, which is also scanning books, were thrilled.
The alliance said the delay request was an enormous loss for Google, which had been saying for months that no changes were necessary. "Now, that settlement, as we know it, is dead," the group said in a statement.
But one antitrust attorney, Evan Stewart, said it was more likely that Google was trying to resolve issues.
"It seems like they're trying to get this deal done and seems from a business standpoint that it's a good thing for them to do," Stewart said.
The Justice Department said in its filing Friday that the court should encourage the parties to modify the settlement so that it complies with copyright and antitrust laws, including the distribution of orphan works -- books which are in copyright but the rights holder cannot be located.
Under the terms of the proposed settlement, Google will pay $125 million to create a Book Rights Registry, where authors and publishers register works and are paid for books and other publications that the search giant would put online.
(Reporting by Grant McCool and Diane Bartz; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)
