Judge rejects Google's attempt to create a universal library

By Laurie Segall, staff reporter


NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Google's vision of a universal library archiving all books ever published on Earth is once again at odds with laws protecting the authors of those books.

A federal judge on Tuesday rejected a settlement deal Google hammered out with publishers over its controversial Google Books archive, saying the proposed agreement went too far in giving Google control over the digitalization of books.

"The question presented is whether the [settlement agreement] is fair, adequate, and reasonable," Judge Denny Chin of the U.S. District Court in New York City wrote in his 48-page ruling. "I conclude that it is not."

The decision is the latest twist in a saga that is helping to shape the legal and commercial landscape around digital publishing.

Google's stated mission is "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." As part of that goal, it struck a deal in 2004 with several major libraries to digitally copy the books in their collections. The company now has an archive of more than 12 million publications.

To those who want information to be online and accessible, that's a great idea. To publishers -- and many of the authors they work with -- it's a terrifying one.

Their representatives quickly slapped Google with a lawsuit, which later gained class-action status. After two years of negotiations, Google hacked out a settlement deal with two industry groups, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers. A modified version of that deal got a preliminary seal of approval from the court in late 2009.

But the deal triggered hundreds of objections, and Judge Chin took a step back to consider them before giving the deal his final approval. His ruling on Tuesday makes clear that the intensity of the backlash -- and the specific arguments made by critics of the deal -- prompted him to change his mind.

"Many of the concerns raised in the objections would be ameliorated if the [agreement] were converted from an 'opt-out' settlement to an 'opt-in' settlement," he wrote.

Google's settlement agreement is a complex, 166-page document. While the company took pains to protect the rights of copyright holders -- only tiny snippets are revealed from in-print books -- it put the burden on authors and publishers to police their works' inclusion in the archive. Google will remove books on request, but without an explicit request, it will otherwise digitize anything it can get hold of.

That didn't sit well with Judge Chin. He also expressed concern over the agreement's handling of "orphaned" books -- works that are still under copyright, but no longer in print.

"The questions of who should be entrusted with guardianship over orphan books, under what terms, and with what safeguards are matters more appropriately decided by Congress than through an agreement among private, self-interested parties," Chin wrote in his ruling.

Google said it is considering its next step in a legal battle that has already dragged on for six years.

"This is clearly disappointing, but we'll review the court's decision and consider our options," a company spokeswoman said. "Like many others, we believe this agreement has the potential to open-up access to millions of books that are currently hard to find in the U.S. today."

Judge Chin acknowledged the appeal of the "utopian dream" of a vast digital archive, but warned against letting Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) be its overseer.

"While the digitization of books and the creation of a universal library would benefit many, the [agreement] would simply go to far," he wrote. "The [deal] would give Google a significant advantage over competitors, rewarding it for engaging in wholesale copying of copyrighted works without permission."  To top of page

Just the hot list include
Frontline troops push for solar energy
The U.S. Marines are testing renewable energy technologies like solar to reduce costs and casualties associated with fossil fuels. Play
25 Best Places to find rich singles
Looking for Mr. or Ms. Moneybags? Hunt down the perfect mate in these wealthy cities, which are brimming with unattached professionals. More
Fun festivals: Twins to mustard to pirates!
You'll see double in Twinsburg, Ohio, and Ketchup lovers should beware in Middleton, WI. Here's some of the best and strangest town festivals. Play
Index Last Change % Change
Dow 32,627.97 -234.33 -0.71%
Nasdaq 13,215.24 99.07 0.76%
S&P 500 3,913.10 -2.36 -0.06%
Treasuries 1.73 0.00 0.12%
Data as of 6:29am ET
Company Price Change % Change
Ford Motor Co 8.29 0.05 0.61%
Advanced Micro Devic... 54.59 0.70 1.30%
Cisco Systems Inc 47.49 -2.44 -4.89%
General Electric Co 13.00 -0.16 -1.22%
Kraft Heinz Co 27.84 -2.20 -7.32%
Data as of 2:44pm ET
Sponsors

Sections

Bankrupt toy retailer tells bankruptcy court it is looking at possibly reviving the Toys 'R' Us and Babies 'R' Us brands. More

Land O'Lakes CEO Beth Ford charts her career path, from her first job to becoming the first openly gay CEO at a Fortune 500 company in an interview with CNN's Boss Files. More

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.