New extension granted for Google Settlement

10.11.09 Philip Jones in The Bookseller

The US judge presiding over the Google Settlement has agreed to extend the deadline for a revised deal to go before the court. The deadline had been midnight 9th November, it has now been moved to Friday 13th November.

In its submission to the court the parties, including the Association of American Publishers, the Authors Guild and Google, said they had been in discussions with the Department of Justice, which had voiced concern about the original deal, as recently as Friday 6th November. No additional reason has been given for the delay request.

Michael Boni, attorney for the authors in the litigation, said that the parties had been working "diligently" on completing the amended settlement, but pointed out that judge had previously said that the parties should inform the court if more time was needed.

The revised settlement was intended to address objections raised by the DoJ, some European governments and other critics, who argued the agreement ran counter to international copyright laws.