The Google Books settlement is back. On Friday, Google and the author and publisher groups that originally sued over the search engine’s massive scanning operations offered a revised version of the settlement.
Back in September, Google pulled the proposed settlement on the eve of a federal district court’s decision on whether to approve the deal. While the deal faced blistering attacks from Google competitors, consumer and privacy groups, and the Open Books Alliance, it was serious concerns voiced by European governments and the U.S. Justice Department that forced reworking of the deal.
Europe Out of the Deal
The Justice Department made no initial response to the new proposal. A spokesperson said the department’s investigation is ongoing.
The proposal’s most drastic change is that it removes most of Europe from the agreement. The European Union and individual countries like Germany objected strenuously to the deal because it would have allowed Google to scan European books never offered for sale in the U.S. Britain, Canada and Australia are included in the proposal, however.
The revised deal also offers a number of accommodations to authors, including the right to reject arbitration and the appointment of an independent fiduciary to represent the rights of authors who have not opted out.
‘Nip and Tuck’
The deal’s harshest critic, the Open Book Alliance, said the revised deal fails to address fundamental problems. “By performing surgical nip and tuck, Google, the AAP, and the AG are attempting to distract people from their continued efforts to establish a monopoly over digital-content access and distribution; usurp Congress’ role in setting copyright policy; lock writers into their unsought registry, stripping them of their individual contract rights; put library budgets and patron privacy at risk; and establish
a dangerous precedent by abusing the class-action process,” Open Book Alliance co-Chairman Peter Brantley said.
While opponents like OBA may never be satisfied…