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A U.S. court in Manhattan has ruled that authors embroiled in a court case concerning Google's book-scanning project will have until Sept 04 of 2009 to consider the Internet giant's settlement offer.
Img: Books. Credit: Dawn Endico/flickr
The original date for settlement was May 05, however U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin ruled that a four-month extension was in order to allow details of the complex settlement to be made clearer. The ruling allows authors to either agree to the terms offered by Google to scan their works or to opt out of the agreement.
“This allows class members extra time to consider their options under the Google Book settlement agreement,” Joanne Zack, lawyer for the Author’s Guild, one of the plaintiffs, said yesterday to Bloomberg.
Google initially won a court approval in November to pay $125 million USD in compensation for the scanning of the millions of works which, it was claimed, would breach copyright.
Meanwhile the New York Times has reported that the U.S. Justice Department is holding an inquiry into Google's settlement, with authors saying it may breach anti-trust laws. The inquiry does not necessarily mean the Justice Department will oppose the settlement, reveals the NYT, however it does indicate a sense of disquiet over Google's exclusive license regarding the scanned books.
Google has maintained the project will benefit authors as well as publishers and the public by giving access to millions of out-of-print publications.
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