August 20, 2009

A new objection to Google's Book Search settlement with books rights holders plans to argue that the parties to the settlement are "trying to ram this through so that millions of copyright holders will have no idea that this is happening."

Google's plan to digitize books on a grand scale has its fair share of detractors, and Scott Gant will soon join them in opposition to the settlement according to The New York Times. Gant, a lawyer with Boies Schiller & Flexner, says he's acting on his own as an author concerned about the use of class action status to lump all authors into the same pool.

Several groups acting on behalf of publishers and authors sued Google in 2005 over its plan to digitize books, and the suit was granted class action status. That meant that when Google and the publishing groups settled the lawsuit in 2008, publishers and authors that held the rights to books that were out of print but still protected by copyright law had to opt out of the settlement if they didn't want to participate in the project. They have until next month to do so.

Source:-http://news.cnet.com