[Dtb-talk] AP: Judge says no quick ruling on Google book plans

Sat Feb 20 03:27:31 UTC 2010

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Judge says no quick ruling on Google book plans

By LARRY NEUMEISTER (AP) – 21 hours ago

NEW YORK  Supporters of Google's effort to 
create the world's largest digital library 
Internet told a federal judge Thursday that it would benefit society.

Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation 
of the Blind, said the audio capabilities of 
Google's system "will give us access to 10 million books."

One of the opponents  which include authors, 
foreign governments, corporate rivals and even 
the U.S. Department of Justice  countered at a 
packed court hearing in Manhattan that Google's 
plans were more about commerce, not access to books.

"It's not going to be a great library, it's going 
to be a good store," said Sarah Canzoneri, a 
member of the Children's Book Guild and plaintiff 
in a lawsuit by authors and publishers.

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin already has read 
more than 500 submissions about a $125 million 
settlement aimed at ending a pair of 2005 
lawsuits that tried to stop Google from scanning 
books into a gigantic online database.

On Thursday, he was hearing statements from 
interested parties before deciding whether 
changes made to a deal first announced in October 
2008 are sufficient to withstand constitutional scrutiny.

"To end the suspense, I'm not going to rule 
today," he said at the start. "There is just too much to digest."

He added, "Voluminous materials have been 
submitted. There is a lot of repetition. Some of 
the submissions even quote other submissions."

In court papers submitted last week, Google Inc., 
which is based in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns 
= "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" 
/>Mountain View, Calif., defended its deal with 
authors by saying its digital library lives up to 
the purpose of copyright law, which is to create 
and distribute expressive works.

"No one seriously disputes that approval of the 
settlement will open the virtual doors to the 
greatest library in history, without costing 
authors a dime they now receive or are likely to 
receive if the settlement is not approved," Google said.

The Department of Justice said Google and the 
plaintiffs have made substantial improvements to 
the original settlement, but it said "substantial issues remain."

It said the new deal raised antitrust concerns 
and suffered from the same core issue as the 
original agreement because it establishes 
forward-looking business arrangements that 
"confer significant and possibly anticompetitive 
advantages on a single entity  Google."

Still, the Department of Justice said it believes 
an approvable settlement may be achievable, 
perhaps by requiring rights holders to opt in to the settlement.

France and Germany, which oppose the settlement, 
noted they support a European book-scanning 
project, Europeana, because it is in compliance 
with their laws and requires permission from 
copyright holders before books are scanned.

Obtaining permission beforehand is what 
<http://amazon.com/>Amazon.com Inc. said it did 
when it engaged in a similar book-scanning 
project. Amazon's lawyers oppose the Google 
settlement and have asked to address the court. 
Other Google rivals including Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. also oppose it.

Among authors opposing the deal are folk singer 
Arlo Guthrie and writer Catherine Ryan Hyde, 
whose novel "Pay it Forward" was adapted and released as a movie.

"While I believe that the proposed Google Books 
Settlement has the potential to provide authors 
with additional exposure and perhaps additional 
sources of revenue for their works," Hyde wrote, 
"I continue to believe that the proposed 
settlement as amended remains critically flawed 
and is unfair to authors in a number of crucial respects."

Lawyers for the plaintiffs who brought the 2005 
lawsuits defended the settlement. Their 
submission to the judge said there were 
relatively few complaints, considering the 
ambitious plan to digitize all the world's books, 
and that many opponents "advance competitive and 
other parochial self-interests" that conflict 
with the broader interests of the publishing industry.

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