Google Books Settlement Delayed

This is last week's news so you probably already know that the Google Books settlement hearing scheduled for October 7th has been delayed by Judge Chin in response to a motion to delay filed by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers (the plaintiffs).  The motion was not opposed by Google.

Judge Chin felt that, although the settlement would offer many benefits to society, enough well-reasoned objections to the terms of the agreements had been raised by a broad range of interested parties, including the DOJ, various states, other countries, nonprofits, and authors to justify the delay.  Apparently, the parties agree.  The court has received over 400 filings taking issue with some part of the agreement, which is not surprising given its broad sweep. Note too that the agreement is being challenged in French court (in a suit claiming that it violates French copyright law).

I intend to continue blogging about the agreement since, regardless of any delays, there is plenty to learn from the terms of the agreement and its reflection of the state of copyright law and book publishing in this country.  However, October threatens to be one of the busiest months of my life so don't expect a lot of posts on this topic for the next month.