Google Working On Opt-In Settlement Of Book Search Lawsuit

A Google attorney told a federal judge today that the two sides involved in the long-running Google Book Search lawsuit settlement are negotiating an “opt-in settlement” in an attempt to finally put the case to rest.

As The Laboratorium reports, Google’s attorney Michael Boni told Judge Dennis Chin that both sides “have been aiming for an opt-in settlement.” That would likely please Chin, who specifically suggested when he rejected the original settlement in March that an opt-in settlement would be a good idea:

As the United States and other objectors have noted, many of the concerns raised in the objections would be ameliorated if the ASA were converted an “opt-out” to an “opt-in” settlement.

I urge the parties to consider revising the ASA accordingly.

The case dates back to 2005, when many authors and publishers sued Google for copyright violations when Google began scanning books and showing snippets of their content in Google search results.

Chin set another hearing in the case for September 15th and warned the two sides that he’ll assign a “relatively tight schedule” if the case isn’t resolved, or close to it by that date.

Stock image via Shutterstock. Used with permission.