Denny Chin, the judge in the Authors Guild versus Google Books case, seems to be getting more and more frustrated the longer this six-year-old case drags on. In the latest hearing on the matter today, he set a firm deadline of September 15th for all parties involved to come up with a new settlement. Judge Chin had rejected the much-vaunted $125 million previous settlement back in March, feeling that it gave too much power to Google. He expressed the opinion that an opt-in system, in which authors and publishers explicitly had to allow their books to be made available,...

The latest settlement conference for the Google Books affair was held a few days ago, Reuters reports. Apparently, not much actually happened there apart from all sides asking the judge to give them still more time to prepare. "The parties are still considering what options are available," and everything "is on the table," Bruce Keller, a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton, who represents publishers in the settlement, said at a hearing before Circuit Judge Denny Chin in Manhattan federal court. As we reported back in March, Judge Chin rejected the most recent settlement proposal,...

Here's an interview done by Bloomberg. Steve discusses libraries and the Google Book Settlement. The interview runs about 4 minutes. ...

From their website: "Judge Chin's decision that the Google Book Settlement was 'not fair, adequate and reasonable' gives the National Writers Union even more reason to pursue other means through Congress and the courts to protect and affirm writers' rights against this sort of corporate infringement," declared Larry Goldbetter, president of the NWU, the union of freelance writers. "Because writers' copyright infringement claims against Google have yet to be resolved, the NWU calls on Google to stop scanning without permission -- now." After seven years of Google digitizing books without the consent of ...

UPDATED (March 24, 2011, 9:00 pm EDST) Some of the Most Recently Added Items 1. “Judge Chin rejects AAP/Google settlement” (by Karen Coyle, Coyle’s InFormation) It is important to note that the position of digitization and ebooks today are vastly different than they were in 2005 when the authors and publishers first sued Google over its library digitization project. It is possible that if the question of Google’s digitizing were to be put forth for the first time today, the actions of the parties and the results would be vastly different. This...

The Bookseller has a sampling of comments from Europe: In Europe, where many of the objectors resided, the judge's decision has been broadly welcomed. Tim Godfray, chief executive of the Booksellers Association said:  “We have always taken the view that the Amended Settlement Agreement, if approved, would give Google a significant advantage over its competitors. As such it would have been a bridge too far." Copyright Licensing Agency chief executive Kevin Fitzgerald, said: "We fully support digital publishing but the proposed settlement would have granted Google full access to copyrighted works that it otherwise ...

The Story From a Publisher’s Weekly Article: In a stunning setback, Judge Denny Chin today rejected the Google Book Settlement, some 13 months after its final fairness hearing. “In the end, I conclude that the [Settlement Agreement] is not fair, adequate, and reasonable.” Chin set a date of April 25th for a status conference, and suggested his concerns with the agreement could be ameliorated with one simple change. “As the United States and other objectors have noted, many of the concerns raised in the objections would be ameliorated if the ASA were converted from an...

Association of American Publishers: Washington, DC, March 22, 2011 —Speaking on behalf of the publisher plaintiffs (The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.; Pearson Education, Inc; Penguin Group (USA) Inc.; Simon & Schuster, Inc.; John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; Association of American Publishers, Inc.; Harlequin Enterprises Limited; Macmillan Publishers Limited; Melbourne University Publishing Limited; The Text Publishing Company), John Sargent, Chief Executive Officer, Macmillan, issued the statement below. It references the Judge’s decision which noted: “…The motion for final approval of the ASA is denied, without prejudice to renewal in the event the parties...

In a 48 page opinion judge Chin has rejected the settlement.  Here is the summary from page 1 of the actual opinion: Before the Court is plaintiffs' motion pursuant ,toRule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for final approval of the proposed settlement of this class action on the terms set forth in the Amended Settlement Agreement (the "ASAH). The question presented is whether the ASA is fair, adequate, and reasonable. I conclude that it is not. While the digitization of books and the creation of a universal digital library would benefit many, the ASA would simply go too far....

This New York Review of Books Blog Post is another article/post by Professor Darnton, Director of Harvard University Libraries, on book digitzation, libraries, and related topics. Google represents the ultimate in business plans. By controlling access to information, it has made billions, which it is now investing in the control of the information itself. What began as Google Book Search is therefore becoming the largest library and book business in the world. Like all commercial enterprises, Google’s primary responsibility is to make money for its shareholders. Libraries exist to get books to readers—books and other forms of knowledge and entertainment, provided for...

Resource Shelf has a great summary of this article: Great headline to gain the attention of readers. The article focuses on multiple digitisation projects taking place at the National Library of Wales and includes comments on why libraries should be involved in digitisation projects vs. Google. Roy Cellan Jones writes: What’s the point of a library or a librarian in the digital era? Who needs a physical space for books and archives, and librarians to police their use, when all that material will soon be available to anyone with a decent internet connection at the click of a mouse? On a visit to...

Michael Healy, Book Rights Registry; Roland Lange, Google; Angela D'Agostino, Bowker: Roland Lange: Google Books has two different programs: partners and library. He discusses partner program. Over 2 million books from 30,000 publishers. All in the program by agreement with publishers. Program is free. Put in search request and will come up with results, including books. If click through, can see 20% of book, multiple buy links, related books and publisher branding. Nobody pays for this. Content is territorially restricted by publishers, can't copy, download or print it. Publishers get exposure on Google...