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<DIV dir=ltr class=OutlookMessageHeader align=left><FONT size=2
face=Tahoma>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>
chapter-presidents-bounces@nfbnet.org
[mailto:chapter-presidents-bounces@nfbnet.org]<B>On Behalf Of </B>Freeh,Jessica
(by way of David Andrews <dandrews@visi.com>)<BR><B>Sent:</B> Friday,
February 19, 2010 10:28 PM<BR><B>To:</B>
david.andrews@nfbnet.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> [Chapter-presidents] AP: Judge says
no quick ruling on Google bookplans<BR><BR></FONT></DIV><IMG alt=[]
src="http://my.barackobama.com/page/-/AssociatedPressLogo-large.jpg" width=420
height=86 NOSEND="1"> <BR><BR><FONT size=5
face="Times New Roman, Times"><B>Judge says no quick ruling on Google book
plans<BR><BR></B></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times">By LARRY NEUMEISTER
(AP) – 21 hours ago<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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."<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>"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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>"To end
the suspense, I'm not going to rule today," he said at the start. "There is just
too much to digest."<BR><BR>He added, "Voluminous materials have been submitted.
There is a lot of repetition. Some of the submissions even quote other
submissions."<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>"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.<BR><BR>The Department of Justice said Google and the
plaintiffs have made substantial improvements to the original settlement, but it
said "substantial issues remain."<BR><BR>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."<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>Obtaining permission beforehand is what <A
href="http://amazon.com/">Amazon.com</A> 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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>"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."<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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