Google Book Settlement & DOJ
I was deep, deep, deep in the bowels of law school studying and managed to miss the Google Book Settlement. I've been slowly catching for the past couple of months, but still have not wrapped my brain around it all. But perhaps I'm not the only one who isn't grokking it fully?
From the New York Times:
The Justice Department has begun an inquiry into the antitrust implications of Google’s settlement with authors and publishers over its Google Book Search service, two people briefed on the matter said Tuesday.Lawyers for the Justice Department have been in conversations in recent weeks with various groups opposed to the settlement, including the Internet Archive and Consumer Watchdog. More recently, Justice Department lawyers notified the parties to the settlement, including Google, and representatives for the Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild, that they were looking into various antitrust issues related to the far-reaching agreement.
The inquiry does not necessarily mean that the department will oppose the settlement, which is subject to a court review. But it suggests that some of the concerns raised by critics, who say the settlement would unfairly give Google an exclusive license to profit from millions of books, have resonated with the Justice Department.
Thank you to ReadWriteWeb per the head's up ...