Judge Delays Google Book Settlement for Revisions

At the request of the Author’s Guild and the Association of American Publishers, a U.S. District Court has postponed a hearing on the proposed settlement with Google on the scanning and distribution of copyrighted books. Google didn’t oppose the delay.

On Tuesday, the plaintiffs asked the court for more time to amend the proposed settlement with Google so it would conform to U.S. government concerns. “To continue on the current schedule would put the court in a position of reviewing and having participants at the hearing speak to the original settlement agreement, which will not be the subject of a motion for final approval,” the plaintiffs said.

U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin agreed to the request. “The court will, however, conduct a status conference on October 7 at 10 a.m. to determine how to proceed with the case as expeditiously as possible,” Chin said.

Significant Legal Concerns

The Department of Justice told the court on Sept. 18 that the breadth of the book settlement as originally proposed raises significant legal concerns. “A global disposition of the rights to millions of copyrighted works is typically the kind of policy change implemented through legislation, not through a private judicial settlement,” the DOJ said.

Should the court elect to make a significant policy change through a class-action settlement as opposed to legislation, the DOJ advised it to undertake a particularly searching analysis to ensure that all federal requirements are met and the settlement is consistent with U.S. copyright and antitrust laws. “As presently drafted, the proposed settlement does not meet the legal standards this court must apply,” the DOJ said.

In particular, the DOJ is concerned that the settlement would establish a marketplace in which only one competitor would have authority to use a vast array of works, especially the subset of publications called “orphan” works that…

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Submited at Friday, September 25th, 2009 at 2:01 pm on tech by dave
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