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MAIN NEWS HEADLINES February 11 - February 18, 2010 Edition
Justice Department Urges Restructuring of Google Settlement
WASHINGTON/AUTHORLINK NEWS/02/11/10--The U. S. Department of Justice (DOJ)
said in a 26-page legal brief filed last week that many of the initially identified
problems in the Google settlement between authors and publishers remain unresolved
in the amended document. A fairness hearing is scheduled February 18 in Judge
Jimmy Chin's U.S. District Court of New York, however some sources say the DOJ
will encourage Chin not to approve the settlement at this time.
The DOJ said many previously identified problems have not been eliminated,
"despite the commendable efforts of the parties to improve upon the initial
proposed settlement," and that Google, the Authors Guild and Association
of American Publishers are still trying to reach too broadly with their class-action
settlement.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, the DOJ said the revised settlement
"suffers from the same core problem as the original agreement: it is an
attempt to use the class action mechanism to implement
forward-looking business arrangements that go far beyond the dispute ... in
this litigation."
Opponents of the deal, including Amazon.com
Inc. and Microsoft
Corp., have filed comments with Judge Chin arguing that the settlement would
give Google a monopoly in digital books.
Google, the Guild and AAP Google are not expected to modify the settlement
until Judge Chin directs them to do so. However, insiders are saying the DOJ
is urging Judge Chin not to approve the agreement in its present form, and to
encourage all parties to continue talks.
After the Guild and AAP attempted to block Google from illegally scanning books
and making them searchable online, the search giant agreed in 2008 to pay $125
million to establish the Book Rights Registry at which authors and publishers
could register their works and get paid when their titles are viewed online.
The parties submitted a revised settlement in November 2009 that attempted
to address initial concerns of the Justice Department and other critics. The
new agreement adds more pricing options to avoid potential price-fixing, and
attempts to clarify what digital book services Google can offer.
The Department of Justice also said it was open to working with the parties
and other stakeholders on legislative or market-based approaches through which
copyright holders could allow Google and others to make digital use of their
works, The Journal reported.
