The hearing over a settlement between Google and US authors and publishers has been postponed considering objections on copyright and anti-trust grounds. The US District Court Judge Denny Chin agreed with the request from the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the US Authors Guild to delay the October 7 hearing on the legal settlement.
The judge's order came on the same day as French publishers and authors took Google to court in France over the book-scanning project. Supported by France's 530-member Publishers' Association and its SGDL Society of Authors, the plaintiffs are contesting Google's campaign to digitise books without prior authorisation of publishers or authors. The French case has been adjourned until December 18.
Facing objections from the US Justice Department and others to the deal, the authors and publishers asked the New York judge to delay the hearing on the settlement. According to the judge, Google and the authors and publishers were in negotiations with the Department of Justice, which "will result in significant changes to the existing settlement agreement."
The request for a delay in the hearing came four days after the Justice Department advised Chin to reject the settlement. According to the Justice Department the book-scanning project has the potential to breathe life into millions of works that are now effectively off limits. The project however raises copyright and anti-trust issues in its current form. The agency encouraged the parties to continue their discussions.
Google and the authors and publishers reached the settlement in 2008 to a copyright infringement suit they filed against the search services company in 2005. Under the settlement, Google agreed to pay $125 million to resolve outstanding claims and establish an independent Book Rights Registry. The registry provides revenue from sales and advertising to authors and publishers who agree to digitise their books.
Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo! have filed objections to the settlement with the court, along with the French and German governments, privacy advocates and consumer watchdog groups.
Earlier this month, the American Library Association, the Association of College and Research Libraries and the Association of Research Libraries submitted a supplemental filing with the New York District Court. The purpose of the supplemental filing was to address developments that have occurred since the groups submitted their filing on May 4.
Search for more such Copyrights/Data Integrity/Ethical issues related services in K-Store
Discuss this NEWS
