Book settlement of google needs rewrite

The U.S. Department of Justice late Friday urged the court overseeing Google’s book search settlement with authors and publishers to reject the settlement in its current form, although it strongly hinted that the parties are flexible on certain provisions.

“As presently drafted, the Proposed Settlement does not meet the legal standards this Court must apply,” the DOJ said in a 32-page filing with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. “This Court should reject the Proposed Settlement in its current form and encourage the parties to continue negotiations to modify it so as to comply with Rule 23 (a federal law governing class-action settlements) and the copyright and antitrust laws.”