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Google argues book pact with author group legal
Source: Agencies |
February 13, 2010, Saturday
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Print Edition
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GOOGLE Inc argued in a staunch and sometimes eloquent brief that an agreement reached with the Authors Guild to digitize millions of books was legal and a contribution to human knowledge.
Google's ambitious plan has been praised for expanding access to books but the US Justice Department criticized it on February 4 on a variety of grounds, saying it potentially violated antitrust and copyright laws.
Google disagreed, saying on Thursday that the amended settlement agreement complies with the law. "With only one significant exception, the parties sought to implement every suggestion the United States (Justice Department) made in its September submission," the Web search leader said.
That exception was a decision to keep books in the project unless authors decided to opt out. Finding all the authors in question and requiring them to sign up for the program "would eviscerate the purposes of the ASA (amended settlement agreement)," it said.
Google also argued that the deal did not harm libraries and did nothing to stop other groups seeking to digitize books.
"The ASA will enable the parties to make available to people throughout the country millions of out-of-print books," Google said in its brief. "This is precisely the kind of beneficial innovation that the antitrust laws are intended to encourage, not to frustrate."
Google also took a swing at corporate rivals, noting that Microsoft Corp had abandoned its own book project.
"Competitors such as Amazon raise anxieties about Google's potential market position, but ignore their own entrenched market dominance," Google said in its brief.
Another objection has been that it is inappropriate to use the class action mechanism "to implement forward-looking business arrangements." But, Google said, the Justice Department did not point to any cases disapproving a settlement on those grounds.
Google's ambitious plan has been praised for expanding access to books but the US Justice Department criticized it on February 4 on a variety of grounds, saying it potentially violated antitrust and copyright laws.
Google disagreed, saying on Thursday that the amended settlement agreement complies with the law. "With only one significant exception, the parties sought to implement every suggestion the United States (Justice Department) made in its September submission," the Web search leader said.
That exception was a decision to keep books in the project unless authors decided to opt out. Finding all the authors in question and requiring them to sign up for the program "would eviscerate the purposes of the ASA (amended settlement agreement)," it said.
Google also argued that the deal did not harm libraries and did nothing to stop other groups seeking to digitize books.
"The ASA will enable the parties to make available to people throughout the country millions of out-of-print books," Google said in its brief. "This is precisely the kind of beneficial innovation that the antitrust laws are intended to encourage, not to frustrate."
Google also took a swing at corporate rivals, noting that Microsoft Corp had abandoned its own book project.
"Competitors such as Amazon raise anxieties about Google's potential market position, but ignore their own entrenched market dominance," Google said in its brief.
Another objection has been that it is inappropriate to use the class action mechanism "to implement forward-looking business arrangements." But, Google said, the Justice Department did not point to any cases disapproving a settlement on those grounds.
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