Judge allows Media Exchange to object to Google Book deal on behalf of private book owners
By APTuesday, August 11, 2009
Judge allows objection to Google Book deal
SAN FRANCISCO — A judge has granted The Media Exchange Company Inc. the opportunity to file an objection to a settlement reached between Google Inc. and the publishing industry over its book-scanning project.
The company says it has patented technology that gives private book owners the ability to scan and sell books in digital form, and that private owners were excluded from consideration in the settlement.
Federal Judge Denny Chin of New York granted the application July 23.
In October 2008, Google and the publishing industry agreed to settle their battle in a deal that called for Google to pay $125 million while developing online sales opportunities for scanned books that turn up in Google searches.
Google would get 37 percent of future revenue and publishers and authors would share the rest.
Chin has extended the deadline for objecting until Sept. 7. A hearing to approve the settlement is scheduled for Oct. 12.
