Archive | Tag: going to court

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Google attracted more negative attention than perhaps it bargained for
with its goal to digitize the world’s libraries. In April 2009, a
nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, Consumer Watchdog, wrote a
letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder asking the government to
examine the settlement between Google, The Author’s Guild, and the
Association of American Publishers (AAP). That settlement, Consumer Watchdog argued, deserved to be placed under
government review because it gave Google the same financial terms of
digital-book rights as any future competitor.

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In-your-face watchdog gets advice from Microsoft ‘people,’ interest from Verizon

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Google Inc. has attracted a number of
critics over the years, but the Internet search giant hasn’t yet had to
deal with any as jarringly adversarial as Consumer Watchdog. "Their tactics tend to be more confrontational than others’," said Tim
Little, executive director of the Rose Foundation, an Oakland,
Calif.-based organization that funds Consumer Watchdog. "But sometimes
there’s a place for folks being confrontational."

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News Clipping

CHICAGO, IL — University of Chicago law professor Randal Picker raised
concerns recently over a court settlement that will grant Google the
exclusive right to publish orphaned texts –- texts which remain under
copyright, but whose copyright holder can’t be identified or found-a
move he felt could give Google a powerful monopoly. A group of professors from Harvard Law School, and the Internet
Archive, have each independently filed motions to intervene in the case
on the grounds of antitrust violations. Several groups, including The
Internet Archive and Consumer Watchdog, have also raised concerns about
the issue to the U.S. Department of Justice, which so far has not
displayed any intention to involve itself in the case.

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Press Release

Washington, DC — Consumer Watchdog has sent to the U.S. Justice
Department a Google document presenting the best corporate arguments
for why Google should not be viewed as monopolistic, along with a
duplicate of the presentation marked up with comments from an expert
countering the claims.  The nonprofit consumer group received both
documents from an anonymous industry insider.

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Google, having dealt with two major antitrust issues 2008 and facing
the potential of more to come, has begun a program to try to spruce up
its image and show that competition is alive and well. Consumer Watchdog on Friday plans to tout a Google presentation titled
Google, Competition, and Openness (PDF) that the advocacy group
uncovered. The company presentation (also embedded below) gives
Google’s views that it faces plenty of competition in a dynamic market.

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News Clipping

Google has said the settlement will benefit authors, publishers and readers, because it will result in expanded access to books. Nonetheless, the deal is drawing increasingly vocal critics. Among
others, advocacy group Public Citizen opposes a portion of the
settlement, as does Consumer Watchdog. Additionally, New York Law
School intends to file a brief asking for antitrust oversight of the
deal. Last week, it also came to light that the Justice Department was
making inquiries about the settlement.

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News Clipping

US antitrust enforcers are investigating Google’s settlement with
publishers over its book-scanning project, but the internet firm has
defended its position. Google reached an agreement in October to create a $125 million fund to
pay authors to have their work scanned and made available online. The US Justice Department became involved after representatives for
Consumer Watchdog and the American Antitrust Institute raised concerns
earlier this month, according to Bloomberg News.

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News Clipping

In early April 2009, a nonprofit watchdog group, Consumer Watchdog, had called upon the Justice Department to examine the ramifications of Google’s plan to scan so-called "orphan books," which are volumes still under copyright but whose rights-holders cannot be found, into its growing library of digital text. An advocate for the group argued in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder that such a deal would need to be reviewed to ensure that it had sufficient consumer protections.

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News Clipping

For the first time since its preliminary approval in November 2008,
the Google Book Search settlement is looking less like a done deal. On
April 28, New York federal judge Denny Chin granted a four-month
extension, delaying the initial May 5 deadline to opt out or object to
the Google settlement until September 4, with a fairness hearing now
set for October 7. The ruling leaves all other dates in place, at least
for now, but raises questions about the deal’s prospects for final
approval.

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