Archive | Tag: going to court

News Clipping

The U.S. Department of Justice has come out against the proposed
agreement to settle copyright lawsuits that authors and major
publishers filed against Google over the search company’s book search
program. Consumer Watchdog, a
consumer protection organization that earlier this year urged the DOJ
to get involved, filed a 30-page document opposing the agreement,
saying it will "strip rights from millions of absent class members,
worldwide, in violation of national and international copyright law,
for the sole benefit of Google. There should be a competitive book-search market, while the U.S.
Congress must solve the orphan works problem. The parties simply cannot justify this ‘solution’ which does not
adequately protect the Rightsholders and unfairly benefits a single
party," reads the Consumer Watchdog statement.

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News Clipping

Internet-search giant Google is making conciliatory gestures in an effort to blunt mounting opposition to a copyright deal that is the foundation of its plan to build the biggest online library, Google Books.  Urging the court to reject the Google Books deal, Consumer Watchdog, a
consumer group, said last week the proposed settlement conflicts with
international copyright treaties such as the Berne Convention for the
Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. It "would strip rights from
millions of absent-class members worldwide, for the sole benefit of
Google," referring to authors and publishers who did not or could not
opt out of the deal between Google and the Guild for the Google Book
Search.

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News Clipping

Concerns center on possible monopoly, invasion of privacy
 
John M. Simpson of Consumer Watchdog,
a California-based non-profit, said a key problem is the unfair
competitive advantage Google receives under the settlement that comes
from its attempt to pull an end-run around the appropriate legislative solution
to the orphan books problem. “This is not an issue for a court and
certainly one that cannot be settled by solving the problem for one
large corporation and no one else,” he said in testimony before the
House Judiciary Committee last week.

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Blog Post

Things got busy fast this week in DC as Congress returned from the month-long summer break.

Finance committee chair Sen. Max Baucus released his long-awaited health reform proposal on Tuesday after months of closed-door meetings…

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News Clipping

By failing to pass orphan works legislation in previous sessions, Congress practically guaranteed a messy settlement would result from Google’s scanning and display of millions of out-of-print works found only in libraries, several lawmakers said at a House Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday. Consumer Watchdog’s John M. Simpson, perhaps Google’s most vocal
nonprofit critic in Washington, said the settlement "simply furthers
the relatively narrow agenda" of Google, the Authors Guild and
Association of American Publishers. Congress should pass orphan-works
or fair-use legislation, so Google won’t get an "unprecedented
monopolistic advantage" over some books.

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Press Release

Testimony Says Deal Violates Law, Is Anti-Competitive And Raises Privacy Concerns

WASHINGTON, DC — The proposed Google Books settlement should be
rejected because it is anticompetitive, violates both U.S. and
international law and raises substantial threats to privacy, Consumer
Watchdog’s John M. Simpson told the House Judiciary Committee today.

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News Clipping

Google’s proposed book settlement with book authors and publishers, allowing the company to digitize and sell millions of books, makes a "mockery" of copyright protections in the U.S. Constitution, the head of the U.S. Copyright Office said Thursday. The settlement would give Google an "unlawful and inappropriate"
monopoly and strips away the rights of copyright holders worldwide,
added John Simpson, a consumer advocate with Consumer Watchdog.
"The deal simply furthers the relatively narrow agenda of Google, the
Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers," he said.

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News Clipping

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Congressional committee will review the pros and cons of a class-action settlement that would give Google Inc. the digital rights
to millions of copyrighted books that are no long being published. The
antitrust concerns prompted the U.S. Department of Justice to open an
investigation into whether the settlement will undermine competition.
The Justice Department is scheduled to report some of its preliminary
filings to Chin by Sept. 18. Other critics, including consumer
watchdog groups and some library associations, are worried the deal
will open a window on what kinds of books people are reading.

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