Yahoo!, Microsoft and Others Challenge Google’s Digitization of Books
By Chris Weiss
Yahoo! and Microsoft have joined forces with other organizations, which reportedly include Amazon, to challenge a 2008 class action settlement between Google and authors and publishers that gave Google the go-ahead to digitize millions of books. That settlement paved the way for Google to create the “Books Rights Registry” where authors and publishers get revenue through sales and advertising when agreeing to have their books scanned in.
Called the Open Book Alliance, the group also includes a slew of libraries and non-profits that contest that Google’s plan to digitize books and put them on the Internet creates antitrust concerns and allows Google monopolistic control over the pricing of books for libraries. Google spokesman Gabriel Stricker responded to the claims: “The agreement is not exclusive. If improved by the court it will expand access to millions of books in the U.S. The agreement stands to inject more competition into the digital book space, so it’s understandable why our competitors would fight hard to prevent more competition.” The U.S. Justice Department, the European Commission and a group of U.S. state attorneys general are currently reviewing the settlement and a hearing is set for October 7. [via Reuters]
