Google Book Settlement Gets Preliminary Approval; Hearing in 2010

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 20, 2009 - 11:02am.

New York - The judge overseeing the settlement agreement between Google (NASD: GOOG) and authors and publishers over the direction of its massive book-scanning project has pushed a hearing on a revised settlement back to Feb. 18, while at the same time granted preliminary approval to the new deal. "The preliminary approval order sends a positive initial message; this agreement promises to benefit readers and researchers, and enhance the ability of authors and publishers to distribute their content in digital form," Google said in a statement.

The revised settlement -- filed after the U.S. Justice Department signaled that its concerns with the terms could scuttle the deal -- narrows the scope of the project somewhat, and limits how Google can profit from it.

The Open Book Alliance, a group of parties who oppose the deal, still does not approve of the new terms, and noted that the Justice Dept. has until Feb. 4 to weigh in with its opinion of the revised settlement.

http://www.googlebooksettlement.com/

http://www.openbookalliance.org