Plaintiffs ask for more time in Google book search case

IDG News Service - The Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers (AAP) want more time to rework their proposed agreement with Google to settle a lawsuit over the search company's book search service.

The Authors Guild and the AAP have requested that Judge Denny Chin reschedule a key "final fairness" hearing, set for Oct. 7 at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to hear arguments for and against the settlement deal.

In a filing with the court on Tuesday, the Authors Guild and the AAP said they want to amend the agreement but that they need more time. They are asking that a status hearing be held on Nov. 6 to inform the judge of their progress and consider a date for the final fairness hearing.

Their request was prompted primarily by a set of objections to the agreement that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) outlined on Friday. "This court should reject the proposed settlement in its current form and encourage the parties to continue negotiations," the DOJ said in its 32-page Statement of Interest to Judge Chin.

The settlement should be modified so that it complies with U.S. copyright and antitrust laws, and to satisfy the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23, which sets parameters for approving class-action lawsuit settlements, the DOJ said.

"It is because the parties wish to work with the DOJ to the fullest extent possible that they have engaged, and plan to continue to engage, in negotiations in an effort to address and resolve the concerns expressed in the U.S. Statement of Interest," Tuesday's filing from the Authors Guild and the AAP reads. "The parties are committed to rapidly advancing the discussions with the DOJ. Nevertheless, it is clear that the complex issues raised in the U.S. Statement of Interest preclude submission of an amended settlement agreement by October 7."

Asked for comment, Google said on Tuesday: "We are considering the points raised by the Department of Justice and others, and we look forward to addressing them as the court proceedings continue. If approved by the court, this settlement stands to unlock access to millions of books in the U.S. while giving authors and publishers new ways to distribute their work."

Despite its criticisms, the DOJ said a settlement of the case would benefit the public because it would make millions of hard-to-find books easily accessible in digital form.

In 2005, book authors and the Authors Guild filed a class-action lawsuit, while five large publishers filed a separate lawsuit as representatives of the Association of American Publishers' membership.