Critics: Google's Changes To Books Deal Are 'Cosmetic'
Critics of Google's effort to create an online digital library say its latest proposals to address concerns with the project are "cosmetic" and do little to address the deal's underlying problems. In a federal court filing Thursday, Google defended its revised settlement with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers and urged its approval despite continued concerns about the deal from the Justice Department.
The revised settlement "should be approved because it complies with the letter of the relevant laws and advances their purposes beyond measure," Google said in its filing. "The benefits of approval are bounded only by the limits of human creativity and imagination. The costs of disapproval are equally large."
In a filing last week, the Justice Department said the changes in the revised settlement "do not fully resolve the United States' concerns," which include issues with class certification, copyright and antitrust. A court hearing on the revised settlement is set for Feb. 18.
"The arguments [Google] now offers to defend the amended settlement are the same arguments that have been rejected by the Department of Justice - twice," the Open Book Alliance, which includes Google rivals such as Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo, said in a statement. "Despite the spin from Google's attorneys, the amended settlement will still offer the search and online advertising giant exclusive access to books it has illegally scanned to the detriment of consumers, authors and competition."
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