Battle of Google Books

The Google Book debate trudges on, with today being the last day to submit written arguments and appeals.

Microsoft, Yahoo and other challengers have submitted their final arguments to the courts today opposing the class-action settlement that would substantially expand Google’s library of digital books. As we previously reported, the lawsuit and settlement were brought about by authors and publishers, claiming that Google has violated their copyrights and of other rightsholders of books and inserts by scanning their books, creating an electronic database and displaying short excerpts without the permission of the copyright holders. In late August, Google allotted access to over a million books with a variety of downloading formats. Critics have attacked the settlement with conspiring to create a monopoly—one that raises book prices and boosts the influential search engine’s continual popularity. 

The settlement’s supporters hail the arrangement as a digital breakthrough, making millions more books available to anyone anywhere. Many supporters, including a group of economics professors and various publishers, are hoping the federal judge scheduled to review the settlement this coming October finds the digitalized literature as revolutionary and efficient as they do.

“The agreement creates an innovative framework for the use of copyrighted material in a rapidly digitizing world, serves readers by enabling broader access to a huge trove of hard-to-find books, and benefits the publishing community by establishing an attractive commercial model that offers both control and choice to the rightsholder," said Richard Sarnoff, Chairman of the Association of American Publishers.