THE JUDGE overseeing Google’s controversial agreement with US publishers to digitise millions of books has delayed a hearing into the $125 million (€85 million) deal – a decision that in effect orders the parties back to the drawing board.
Google has been assiduously scanning millions of books ahead of a final ruling on its copyright deal.
Some publishers have balked at the deal, saying it rides roughshod over authors’ rights and awards Google a monopoly over a huge body of work. Google argues that it would make available an enormous trove of works, many of which are currently out of print, and formulated the deal so that writers and publishers would take about two-thirds of future royalties.
Instead of pressing ahead, however, the parties will have to go back and renegotiate the settlement in a way that satisfies critics, including the US department of justice.
A hearing into the deal had been scheduled for early October, as the court prepared to rule on whether the settlement was fair. However, following objections by Washington, the groups involved had said they needed more time to rework the agreement.
New York district judge Denny Chin, who is overseeing the case, said on Thursday that the parties would be granted their request to return to the negotiating table to work out more details.
“The current settlement agreement raises significant issues, as demonstrated not only by the number of objections, but also by the fact that the objectors include countries, states, non-profit organisations and prominent authors and law professors,” he wrote in a two-page order. “Clearly fair concerns have been raised.”
He added, however, that there was substantial public benefit to be gained from the deal and that future tweaks would be dealt with as quickly as possible.
“The proposed settlement would offer many benefits to society, as recognised by supporters of the settlement as well as the department of justice. It would appear that if a fair and reasonable settlement can be struck, the public would benefit.”
The case had proved one of the most controversial in recent memory, creating a surge of criticism from groups including authors, publishers, advocacy groups and Amazon and Microsoft opposing the deal as “susceptible to abuse”.
In Europe, concerns were raised because the deal could have significant global implications, despite only theoretically applying to the US. – (Guardian service)