MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
April 29 – May 7, 2009 Edition
Judge Refuses Intervention
in Google Settlement
NEW YORK, NY (Authorlink News, April 28, 2009)U.S. District Judge Dennis Chin in New York has rejected the Internet Archives (IA) attempt to intervene in the Google settlement with the Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild. However, the group still has until May 5 to file objections to the proposed settlement.
Some onlookers were shocked that Judge Chin would make such a decision. He will render his final ruling on June 11. However there are likely to be a number of objections before the May 5 deadline for opposition, and probably will spark a number of other legal suits.
The IA requested that companies other than Google that have scanned printed books be given the same protections regarding orphaned works that would be granted under the settlement, if approved by the Court in June.
In a letter to the court, IA said the Archives interest arose when it learned the Google settlement would grant broad rights to use orphan works without resolving the legal issues attendant hereto.
The IA said Given the wide-ranging importance of the case, its unusual posture, the pervasive impact of the proposed settlement on numerous market participants, and its overall impact on copyright law, the Archive should be permitted to intervene. . .
The case, it said, involves important questions of copyright law that impact the public as well as the private interests of the Archive.
A number of parties plan to file amicus briefs or friend of the court briefs. However IA said it has no parties in the case that could adequately represent their interests.
The Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, the organization provides free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public.
