14 DAY TRIAL // Google Books has been the target of a lot of complaints over the years, but it looked like the project was close to getting rid of its legal troubles, at least in the US. This may not be the case though, as the US Department of Justice has filed its objections to the latest iteration of the settlement between Google and publishers’ representatives which had sued the company all the way back in 2005 for copyright infringement.
Google plans to make all of the world's books available online through Google Books. To achieve this it started scanning all the books it could get its hands on, 10 million titles to date, but this meant copyrighted books as well. As expected, by anyone else but Google apparently, book publishers and authors weren't too keen on the idea and sued Google for copyright infringement.
The Google Books settlement's history
The company caught a break in 2008 when the parties reached an agreement under which Google could continue to scan any book it wanted and sell them while splitting the revenue with the rights holders unless the latter specifically opted-out of the deal.
The most controversial provision was for the so-called orphaned books, titles still covered by copyright, but for which the rights holder can't be determined or found. Under the settlement, Google would be allowed to scan and sell these books and then share the revenue if and when the original author or the copyright holder would come forward.
The proposed settlement came under a lot of criticism from competitors and various organizations. The US DoJ didn't like it either, encouraging the judge presiding the case to reject it. This lead to the parties involved asking the judge for an extension so that they could make the necessary changes to the deal to placate critics.
The DoJ still finds issues with the revised settlement
A revised settlement was filed a short time later and is currently set for a final hearing on February 2010. This new version was also criticized by the competition, unsurprisingly, but its biggest threat came from the DoJ which filed its objections late last night (US time). The DoJ says there are still issues with the settlement and urges the judge to reject it and push the parties involved to further rectify it.
"At this time, in the view of the United States, the public interest would best be served by direction from the Court encouraging the continuation of settlement discussions between the parties," the filing read. "The ASA [amended settlement agreement] suffers from the same core problem as the original arrangement: It is an attempt to use the class action mechanism to implement forward-looking business arrangements that go far beyond the dispute before the court," the DoJ added.
Its concerns are real though, as the settlement certainly has some far reaching provisions. Of course, as Google noted on several occasions, the real problem is with the current copyright laws in the US and in much of the world. But seeing as those are unlikely to change any time soon, Google took it upon itself to amend them, something it's been known to do before. The DoJ, though, isn't too keen on having a private company basically rewrite copyright laws, which is why it's filing its objections.
For its part, Google is choosing to see the bright side of the objections. "The Department of Justice's filing recognizes the progress made with the revised settlement, and it once again reinforces the value the agreement can provide in unlocking access to millions of books in the U.S.," a Google representative said on behalf of the company and the plaintiffs.
"We look forward to Judge Chin's review of the statement of interest from the Department and the comments from the many supporters who have filed submissions with the court in the last months. If approved by the court, the settlement will significantly expand online access to works through Google Books, while giving authors and publishers new ways to distribute their works."