Inside Google

The Internet Archive has sent a letter to
Judge Dennis Chin, the judge overseeing the Google/Authors Guild, AAP
case seeking permission to file a motion that would ask the court to
alter the proposed settlement to give other companies that have scanned
printed books the same copyright protection of orphan works that would
be granted to Google in the settlement. 
The same argument was made last week by the Consumer Watchdog group
when it asked the Justice Department to intervene in the settlement.

With May 5 the deadline for filing objections to Google’s settlement
with the AAP and the Authors Guild, the consumer advocacy group
Consumer Watchdog has sent a letter to the Justice Department asking
the department to delay the settlement, which still needs court
approval. The letter cites two objections to the agreement: a so-called
“most favored nation” clause and the mechanism to deal with orphan
works. The group maintains that because the settlement was negotiated
between Google and the AAP/authors, there was no one representing the
public interest in what Consumer Watchdog calls an agreement that will
transform publishing.