DOJ Files Against Google Book Settlement: "A Bridge Too Far"

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has once again strongly intervened in opposition to what is now the amended proposed class action settlement between the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, et al., and Google.

The next ruling by a federal judge in the case, which has been blistering with controversy for over a year, is scheduled to be later this month. As has been the case with previous court deadlines, opponents to the proposed settlement have recently filed numerous briefs outlining their objections, whereas few new supporters have chosen to do so this time around.

The latest intervention by the DOJ, contained in a 31-page document filed tonight, comes out strongly on the side of the opposition, arguing that a class-action lawsuit is not the right vehicle for determining such a weighty issue as who will potentially control the electronic distribution and use of copyrighted books, including millions of so-called "orphan" works -- those whose legitimate rights-holders cannot be determined.

As it did in a filing last September, the DOJ once again paid lip service to the potential social benefit promised by this settlement: "Breathing life into millions of works that are now effectively dormant, allowing users to search the text of millions of books at no cost, creating a rights registry, and enhancing the accessibility of such works for the disabled and others are all worthy objectives."

Nevertheless, the DOJ rejects the proposed settlement as "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."

What the department, and the many opponents to the settlement, most urgently worry about is that the search giant Google may emerge from this case with an effective monopoly over the future distribution and use of the digital versions of millions of books that currently languish virtually forgotten in elite librarians and academic institutions.

Google has already scanned some ten million of these titles, which the department acknowledges provides a potential social benefit of vast proportions. However, "(d)espite this worthy goal, the United States has reluctantly concluded that use of the class action mechanism in the manner proposed by the (proposed settlement) is a bridge too far."

Tonight's intervention is the latest indication that Google's ambitious effort to provide what one of its co-founders has called a "library to last forever" is in serious danger of complete collapse.

Related BNET links:
Sergey Brin Defends Google's "Library to Last Forever" "A recent headline in The New York Times captured the dynamic of the Google Book Search controversy perfectly: In E-Books, It's an Army vs. Google..."
The Google Book Case Settlement is Dead "The proposed settlement of the class-action lawsuit against Google Book Search is officially dead tonight. Just days after--"
DoJ Intervenes Against Google Book Search "The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) tonight has informed the federal judge overseeing a proposed class-action settlement of the Google Book Search case that it officially opposes the settlement--"
The Bottom Line of Google Book Search "Yesterday was the filing deadline set by Denny Chin, the federal judge overseeing the Google Book Search case, so over the last few weeks the court has received letters, briefs, and other documents from hundreds of parties from around the world--"