The DOJ Opposes the Google Books Settlement in Its Current Form

The Google Books settlement is looking a lot less likely to be approved by the court, now that the US Department of Justice has reached a conclusion on its investigation launched this summer. The DOJ will oppose the settlement in its current form and will ask the court to reject it. Google and the other parties involved will most likely be asked to modify the agreement so as to comply with US copyright and antitrust laws, but the DOJ believes that, in a modified form, the settlement could eventually go through.

"Given the parties’ express commitment to ongoing discussions to address concerns already raised and the possibility that such discussions could lead to a settlement agreement that could legally be approved by the Court, the public interest would best be served by direction from the Court encouraging the continuation of those discussions between the parties and, if the Court so chooses, by some direction as to those aspects of the Proposed Settlement that need to be improved. Because a properly structured settlement agreement in this case offers the potential for important societal benefits, the United States does not want the opportunity or momentum to be lost," the DOJ said in the legal filing.

Google and the Association of American Publishers issued a statement regarding the filing and said that they would respond to some of the issues raised in the following court hearings. The parties are expected to be willing to make the necessary modifications and Google would surely like to get the lawsuit, which has lingered on since 2005, over with. At the time, several groups representing authors and publishers filed a class-action suit over Google's plans to scan and digitize millions of books that were still under copyright.

Last year, the two sides reached a $125-million agreement, which would allow Google to scan out-of-print and orphaned books and also sell them while splitting the revenue with the authors if they would be located. However, Google wouldn't need to have explicit permission from the authors to sell the books, but they could choose to opt out at any moment. The deal came under fire from a number of organizations and several big companies, not coincidently Google's fiercest competitors, which have recently banded together to oppose it. A court hearing that will decide the fate of the settlement will be held on October 7.