Google Copyright Lawsuit Settlement Delayed Again

Posted on April 29, 2009

In a surprise ruling the judge in the Google Book Search copyright lawsuit has agreed to a four month extension requested by a group of authors. The authors asked for a four month delay of the deadline to opt out of or reject the settlement. Publisher's Weekly reports that the group of authors was led by Gail Knight Steinbeck.

Steinbeck, the driving force behind the extension, called the ruling great news. "We now have to time to really sink our teeth into what this agreement will mean," she said. She suggested that four months should be sufficient to determine whether changes made to the deal will make it more acceptable, or whether to opt out—or perhaps even object to the deal.

The Internet Archive (IA), which had a motion to intervene denied by Chin last week, also praised the decision. "We think this is very good news," IA's Peter Brantley told PW. "We are very interested in working with partners to...more squarely identify our concerns and articulate them to a broader audience."

Authors Guild president Paul Aiken shrugged off the extension. "We'd hoped for a shorter extension of time, since we’re eager to get on to the next phase of the process," he told PW. "It's not surprising, however. Nothing about this settlement has happened quickly."

Not much will happen over the summer in the case, unless yet another group appears on the scene requesting to intervene.

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