Judge rejects Google Books settlement

Go back and negotiate some more

JUDGE Denny Chin in New York has rejected the proposed settlement over Google's scanning of 15 million books without permission of authors or publishers.

The Freelance has yet to read the judgement, but reports indicate that Chin's major concerns included the "near-monopoly" that the settlement would have given Google in the exploitation of works whose authors cannot be traced; and the "opt-out" nature of the deal, by which authors were considered parties to it unless they opted out before 28 January 2010.

Both of these issues were raised in submissions to the court by the US Department of Justice, giving Chin a very strong hint.

The judge is also reported to have been impressed by arguments that the terms of the settlement, arrived at under the US copyright régime, would breach international law on authors' rights.

Scott Turow, president of the US Authors' Guild, whose class action lawsuit against Google prompted the settlement negotiations, responded that it plans on "talking to the publishers and Google with the hope that we can arrive at a settlement within the court/s parameters that makes sense for all parties."