Judge Urged To Not Restrict Comments on Google Settlement

As November 9 date for revised settlement approaches, objectors and interested parties express concern

Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 10/26/2009

• Some library groups among signatories
• Settlement due November 9
• Open Book Alliance begins "Ask Google"

A broad group of objectors, friends of the court, and commentators on the Google Books settlement have asked U.S. District Judge Denny Chin to not limit comments on a revised settlement and to give more time for interested parties to address changes being prepared by the class-action plaintiffs, the Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers, and the defendant, Google.

While the largest library organizations are not signatories to the letter, among the signers are the Urban Libraries Council; the networks Lyrasis, Nylink, and BCR; and the Open Book Alliance, (OBA) which includes the New York Library Association and SLA. Among the other signatories are the American Society of Journalists and Authors; the Electronic Frontier Foundation; Microsoft; Yahoo; law professor Pamela Samuelson; and various foreign publishing societies.

Tight schedule
A revised settlement is expected to be submitted to the court on November 9. “[W]e request the opportunity to provide this Court with comments on these procedural matters sometime after the parties submit their proposal but before this Court issues orders setting the process for preliminary approval and the final fairness hearing,” the letter states.

“We further urge the Court to reject any proposed restrictions on the scope of objections or amicus curiae filings. Confining comments to changes in the settlement will create an arbitrary, confusing, and unnecessary threshold and lead to less readable filings that omit important context,” the letter states. “Additionally, confining comments to changed matter may paradoxically prevent objectors and amici from informing the Court that the amendments do not address their concerns.

Questions from the OBA
Meanwhile, the OBA has begun a feature on its blog: Ask Google. The first question: “Are you listening to the Department of Justice?”

While the department “outlined multiple areas of concern, suggesting that a revised settlement would need to include major changes in order to pass muster,” the OBA notes that “Google and its partners continue to suggest that any changes they make will be nothing more than minor amendments.”

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