Judge Makes No Decision in Google Fairness Hearing
Copyright Law, General, Google Books Settlement No Comments »Citing too much information to digest, Judge Chin told a packed courtroom (actually two courtrooms - there was what was called an “overflow room” where people watched the proceedings on a monitor) that he would not rule yesterday on the fairness of the amended Google Settlement. He indicated that he would write an opinion, that he has an open mind and would listen to both sides of the argument as well as the US Department of Justice and both parties in the case.
Only five parties spoke in support of the settlement, mostly citing cultural and public welfare arguments, i.e., a thriving public culture needs access to copyrighted works, preservation of books in danger of being lost to time and age, etc.
More than 25 objectors took to the podium after the supporters spoke and covered, in some cases repeatedly, issues like privacy concerns about the information that Google would collect and ultimately use for their own end, the fact that Google violated current copyright law, and the problems with an opt out versus an opt in system on whether or not you were part of the settlement. These objectors included class members, foreign countries, lawyers, a consumer watchdog group, Amazon, and Microsoft.
The Guild from the very beginning has always considered Google scanning the books in question to be copyright infringement since they never sought permission from any of the rights holders prior to scanning. Google’s actions, along with the libraries that allowed the scanning, show a total disregard for creators’ rights and would create dangerous precedent if not challenged by the creative community. We hope the judge understands the very real concerns raised at the fairness hearing and does the right thing.
