Peters can’t block Google’s settlement with US authors and publishers. That decision rests with US District Judge Denny Chin, who has scheduled an Oct. 7 hearing in New York to review the settlement.
But Peters’s conclusions will probably be drawn upon as critics of the deal try to convince Chin that the settlement shouldn’t be approved, said Peter Brantley, director of access for the Internet Archive. The archive has joined forces with Google rivals Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc., and Amazon.com Inc. to lead the charge against the settlement.
It isn’t clear how the copyright office’s opinion might influence the Department of Justice, which is investigating whether the settlement would hurt competition in the growing market for digital books. The Justice Department is expected to share some of its findings with Chin in documents scheduled to be filed by Sept. 18.
At issue are Google’s plans to scan millions of books, make them searchable online, and sell subscriptions to libraries and individual copies to consumers. Google says this will revitalize works that might otherwise be long forgotten. The $125 million settlement emerged last year after trade groups representing publishers and authors sued Google on copyright-infringement claims.
Google says it has made digital copies of more than 10 million books in the past five years, including about 2 million titles no longer covered by copyright and another 2 million that were indexed after copyright holders gave their explicit permission. The rest are out of print but still protected by copyright.
In its testimony to the congressional committee, Google reiterated its claim that the settlement will make literature and research more widely available while promoting competition in the digital book market.
A long list of supporters, including major libraries, disabled-rights activists, technology groups, economics professors, and lawyers, endorses the settlement for similar reasons. Some of them testified at yesterday’s hearing.
