MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
September 24 – October 1, 2009 Edition
Government Urges Court to Reject Google Settlement
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Authorlink News, September 21, 2009)–The Department of Justice today advised the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that while it should not accept the class action settlement in The Authors Guild Inc. et al. v. Google Inc. as proposed due to concerns of the United States regarding class action, copyright and antitrust law, the parties should be encouraged to continue their productive discussions to address those concerns. In its statement of interest filed with the court, the Department stated:
"Given the parties express commitment to ongoing discussions to address concerns already raised and the possibility that such discussions could lead to a settlement agreement that could legally be approved by the Court, the public interest would best be served by direction from the Court encouraging the continuation of those discussions between the parties and, if the Court so chooses, by some direction as to those aspects of the Proposed Settlement that need to be improved. Because a properly structured settlement agreement in this case offers the potential for important societal benefits, the United States does not want the opportunity or momentum to be lost."
In its filing, the Department proposed that the parties consider a number of changes to the agreement that may help address the United States concerns, including imposing limitations on the most open-ended provisions for future licensing, eliminating potential conflicts among class members, providing additional protections for unknown rights holders, addressing the concerns of foreign authors and publishers, eliminating the joint-pricing mechanisms among publishers and authors, and, whatever the settlements ultimate scope, providing some mechanism by which Googles competitors can gain comparable access.
The settlement agreement between Google and the authors and publishers aims to resolve copyright infringement claims brought against Google by the Authors Guild and five major publishers in 2005 raised by Googles efforts to digitally scan books contained in several libraries and make them searchable on the Internet. The District Courts hearing on the proposed settlement is scheduled to take place on October 7, 2009.
Google, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers said they will consider the points raised by the Justice Department, and will address them as court proceedings continue.
European opponents to the settlement have called for the EU to investigate the proposed deal, charging it will allow Google to dominate the digital books industry. " A group of opponents, including Microsoft-backed ICOMP and the German publishers and booksellers association, says the settlement is unacceptable in its present form and violates the rights of copyright holders and authors. The group also said the settlement will lead to a de facto monopoly.
