Google’s competitors aren’t the only ones who think that the revisions to the Google book settlement are insufficient—the US Department of Justice has reached the same conclusion. The DOJ has filed a statement of interest with the judge handling the case in which it argues that although the revisions to the initial settlement are substantial, they fall well short of eliminating the antitrust and copyright concerns that it had raised previously. As a result, the DOJ argues, the best solution is to send the parties back to the negotiating table to try again.
As with its previous filing, the DOJ recognizes that the settlement might ultimately provide a public good. “Realities make it difficult if not impossible to engage in lawful large-scale book digitization projects, thereby denying the public the full corpus of 20th century books and, perhaps, unknown benefits of future creativity and economic innovation,” the statement reads. “The parties to the ASA [Amended Settlement Agreement] should be commended for their efforts to find a solution to these challenges.”
