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A New York judge has put Google’s vision of creating the world’s biggest digital library on hold.

Microsoft, Amazon and Yahoo have filed objections to
the settlement with the court, along with the French and German
governments, privacy advocates and consumer watchdog groups. "Clearly voices such as ours had an impact on Judge
Chin," wrote consumer watchdog advocate John Simpson in an email to BBC
News. "There was no way the proposed settlement could go
forward. We believe that the proper place to solve many of the case’s
thorniest problems, such as that of orphan books, is in Congress
because it is important to build digital libraries."

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John
M. Simpson, a consumer advocate with Consumer Watchdog who testified
about the deal before the House Judiciary Committee, said any agreement
should also involve input from Congress. He said the agreement as it now stands would have given Google a monopoly over the digitizing of books. "The judge put his fingers exactly on the issues in the case," Simpson said.

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The Author’s Guild and Association of American Publishers in the Google Book Search settlement asked District Court Judge Denny Chin to postpone his fairness hearing on the deal so they can work with Google and the Department of Justice on amending the agreement. Consumer advocacy group Consumer Watchdog further suggested that
important issues affecting copyright law should not be negotiated
behind closed doors.

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Two groups ask a federal judge for more time to address new issues in a settlement covering the firm’s digital library project. A hearing is set for Oct. 7, but they want it moved to Nov. 6.
 
Consumer Watchdog, an advocacy group in Santa Monica, objected to the
"closed-door" nature of the negotiations with the Justice Department. "Key copyright issues must be settled by Congress in a fully public process," said John Simpson, a Consumer Watchdog spokesman.

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Consumer Watchdog, a nonpartisan, nonprofit consumer advocacy group
that has asked the court to reject the settlement, said in a statement
that key copyright issues should be settled by Congress in a fully
public process. "Essentially Google and the authors and publishers groups are back at
square one and must re-negotiate the deal," said John M. Simpson, a
consumer advocate with Consumer Watchdog who was one of eight witnesses
to testify about the deal to the House Judiciary Committee.

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Google Inc. and groups of authors and publishers are working to modify a $125 million settlement to create a digital library following criticism from parties including the U.S. Justice Department, the groups said. “Google and the authors and publisher groups are back at square one,”
John Simpson, an advocate at Consumer Watchdog, a group in Santa
Monica, California, said in a statement.

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Press Release

Consumer Watchdog Says Copyright Issues For Congress, Not Closed-Door Deals

SANTA M0NICA, CA —Publisher and author associations sought today to
cancel a key hearing in the Google Books case to allow private
negotiations with Google over digitizing books online. Consumer
Watchdog warned that important issues affecting copyright law should
not be negotiated behind closed doors.

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Officials
cite concerns that the agreement with authors and publishers could run
afoul of antitrust and copyright laws. But they also propose
modifications to make the settlement pass muster.

In
recent months, many groups have voiced concerns over whether the
agreement would give Google too much pricing power and whether the
Mountain View, Calif., company would adequately safeguard reader
privacy. Consumer Watchdog praised the move by Justice
officials. "This is a victory for consumers and the broader public
interest," said a group advocate, John Simpson.

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Justice Dept. Cites Possible Copyright, Antitrust Violations

Critics of the agreement, including consumer groups and competitors
Amazon and Microsoft, argue that it would give Google near exclusive
licensing rights to millions of out-of-print books, potentially harming
consumers by giving the company exclusive control over prices for
digital books. "A single entity cannot be allowed to build a digital library based
on a monopolistic advantage," said John M. Simpson, a consumer advocate
with public interest group Consumer Watchdog.

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Concerns Over Class Action, Copyright, Antitrust Law

The DoJ was also praised by the consumer watchdog known as Consumer
Watchdog, a notorious thorn in Google’s side. But the watchdog argues
that even if the DoJ’s concerns are alleviated, the court should reject
the settlement. "Solving the antitrust problem is only [part] of the
problem,” said Consumer Watchdog’s John Simpson.

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