Judge delays Google books hearing - San Jose Mercury News
Judge delays Google books hearing
By Elise Ackerman
A federal judge Tuesday postponed a hearing to determine the fairness of the Google Book Search settlement, a landmark court case involving Google and a group representing the nation's authors and publishers.
U.S. District Judge Denny Chin in New York said he was moving the date of the hearing from June 11 to Oct. 7. He said he would also extend the deadline for authors and publishers to opt out of the settlement from May 5 to Sept. 4.
A group of authors that included the sons of John Steinbeck and musician Arlo Guthrie had requested the four-month extension, saying they needed more time to consider the settlement. In an interview, Gail Knight Steinbeck, chairwoman of the Creative Property Rights Alliance, said she didn't want to miss the opportunity represented by the settlement but that she was also concerned the deal could help Google assemble an information monopoly over media such as books, movies and music.
The settlement provides a mechanism for Google to compensate authors and publishers for including digital copies of their work in a giant database. It also gives Google a license to copy works whose copyright was previously considered in dispute — so-called orphan works that appeared to have been abandoned by owners of their copyrights.
An increasing number of authors, copyright specialists, academics, law professors and public interest groups have opposed the 134-page settlement, saying that it goes too far. "It is clear to us that the settlement, if approved, will shape the future of reading, research, writing and publication practices for decades to come," Professor Pamela Samuelson of the University of California-Berkeley School of Law wrote in an April 27 letter to the judge.
Neither Google nor the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, which had sued Google for copyright violations, objected to the extension.
Separately, Reuters and the New York Times reported Tuesday that the Justice Department has begun an antitrust inquiry into the implications of the deal, although it was unclear what steps if any the department would take.
Contact Elise Ackerman at eackerman@mercurynews.com or 408-271-3774.
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