meanwhile, back in Googleland...

[lagilman]

Last week, someone (either here or on FB) wondered why the DoJ wasn't getting involved with all of these seeming monopolistic arrangements in publishing. My response then was that they had -- they've been monitoring the Google Settlement closely, and stepped in previously to send them back to the negotiating table for round 2.

It looks like there will be a round three, also courtesy of the DoJ:

From this morning's NYT:

In another blow to Google’s plan to create a giant digital library and bookstore, the Justice Department on Thursday said that a class-action settlement between the company and groups representing authors and publishers had significant legal problems, even after recent revisions....The department also indicated that the revised agreement, like its predecessor, appeared to run afoul of authors’ copyrights and was too broad in scope.

While the Justice Department did not explicitly urge the court to reject the deal, as it had the previous version, its opposition on copyright, class action and antitrust grounds represented a further setback for Google and the other parties to the deal.

Full article here

Comments

[jimhines.livejournal.com]

I wonder how much money Google is losing in time and lawyer fees during this process.

Glad to see the DoJ stepping up to call bullshit again, even if it's not as firm as I might like.

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

I wonder how much money Google is losing in time and lawyer fees during this process.

Something tells me that they don't care. After all, YouTube still is struggling to make a profit.

Glad to see the DoJ stepping up to call bullshit again, even if it's not as firm as I might like.

Agreed.

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

That's good news, right?

[nightwolfwriter.livejournal.com]

And the fact that the Author's Guild supports Google over the DoJ should surprise no one.

I'm liking the AG less and less as this goes on.

[blitheringpooks.livejournal.com]

I am so relieved. I realize it's not perfect and not the end, but it's at least in the right direction. Thank you for sharing this.

[sorek.livejournal.com]

The money google is spending in legal fees could have been better used to do create an opt in system where the don't scan your book unless you explicitly tell them to but may send you "helpful" emails saying "We believe you own the copyrights to isbn xyz. If this is true and you would like us to scan your book please let us know" . Yes, orphaned works would be hard to track down, which is where the money you saved on legal fees would come in. Pay the lawyers to track down the authors, publishers, their estates or whatever.

And then pay the copyright owners a suitable fee.

But no, that's too much work, so they do it all one big glob of legal action and are getting nowhere.