Google Book Search Settlement Still Rubbish
Quick update on the Google Book Search (GBS) Settlement. At the end of last year, Google proposed a revised Settlement which was supposed to satisfy the demands made by the US Department of Justice.
Here’s what Judge Chin had to say:
“[The] amended settlement agreement suffers from the same core problem as the original agreement: 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 in this litigation.”
…
“[It] still confers significant and possibly anticompetitive advantages on Google as a single entity, thereby enabling the company to be the only competitor in the digital marketplace with the rights to distribute and otherwise exploit a vast array of works in multiple formats.”
Check out full details on the settlement here, and the response by Open Book Alliance here.
(Via Publishers Weekly)
