September 24, 2009, 6:34 pm



Google Books Settlement Delayed Indefinitely



By

Miguel Helft



As currently written, the controversial settlement between

Google

 and groups representing publishers and authors is officially 
dead.  On
Thursday, a federal judge gave the parties time to negotiate a 
new deal that
would

address some of the many objections filed by various groups.



Judge Denny Chin of the United States District Court for the 
Southern
District of New York granted a motion to delay an Oct.  7 hearing 
on the
settlement,

which would pave the way for Google to create an immense digital 
library and
bookstore.  The motion

was filed earlier this week

 by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, 
the
plaintiffs in the case, and was unopposed by Google, the 
defendant.



Judge Chin said that it made no sense to hold a hearing on the 
current
settlement since the parties have indicated that they are 
negotiating
significant

changes to it.



In

his order

, Judge Chin indicated that he took seriously the long list of 
objections
that various parties have raised about the agreement.



"The current settlement agreement raises significant issues, as 
demonstrated
not only by the number of objections, but also by the fact that 
the
objectors

include countries, states, nonprofit organizations, and prominent 
authors
and law professors," Judge Chin wrote.  "Clearly, fair concerns 
have been
raised."





But Judge Chin also echoed comments made by the Justice 
Department last week
that the settlement, if properly revised, could offer great 
benefits, most

notably, by providing broad access to  millions of out-of-print 
books that
are largely locked up in a small group of university libraries.



"The settlement would offer many benefits to society, as 
recognized by
supporters of the settlement as well as D.O.J.," he wrote, 
referring to the

Department of Justice

, which

filed its own brief in the case

 last week.  "It would appear that if a fair and reasonable 
settlement can be
struck, the public would benefit."



The first clear signs that the settlement in its current form 
would be
derailed came late Friday, when the Justice Department raised a 
number of
legal and

antitrust objections to it.  In its brief, the department also 
said that the
parties

appeared willing to renegotiate many aspects of the agreement

 to overcome its opposition.



The decision by the plaintiffs to ask for more time represents a 
stark
reversal from earlier this year.  In April, a group of authors 
and the heirs
of others,

including representatives of the estate of John Steinbeck, first 
asked the
court to delay the fairness hearing and deadline for filing 
objections.  The

authors asked for a four-month delay, and the parties, eager to 
have the
agreement approved quickly, reluctantly recommended a two-month 
delay.  Judge
Chin

sided with the authors.



Observers say the delay provided the time necessary for the many 
critics of
the deal, including the Justice Department, to come forward.  The 
court
received

more than 400 filings, the majority of them raising issues about 
various
parts of the agreement.



Instead of the scheduled fairness hearing, Judge Chin asked the 
parties to
convene in court on Oct.  7 for a status conference.  The purpose 
of the
conference

is to "determine how to proceed with the case as expeditiously as 
possible,
as this case has now been pending for more than four years," he 
wrote.



The Authors Guild and the Association of American sued Google in 
2005 for
copyright infringement over the company's plan to scan books from 
major
libraries

and make them available online.  The parties announced the 
settlement, which
took two years to negotiate, in October.



The settlement also appears to be  facing another

challenge in a French court.



=========================



Eric Bridges

Director of Advocacy and Governmental Affairs

American Council of the Blind

2200 Wilson Blvd.  Suite 650

Arlington, VA 22201

Phone: (202) 467-5081

Fax: (703) 465-5085


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