EFF today led a coalition of authors, publishers, companies and nonprofit organizations in sending a letter to the judge overseeing the Google Book Search settlement urging the Court to ensure that those concerned about the settlement receive adequate notice of, and have sufficient time to study and comment on, any amended settlement agreement that Google, the Authors Guild, and the Association of American Publishers present.
Those following the twists and turns of the Google Book Search settlement will recall that the original Fairness Hearing scheduled for October 7, 2009, was put off because of what the Court called: "significant issues, as demonstrated not only by the number of objections, but also by the fact that the objectors include countries, states, non-profit organizations, and prominent authors and law professors." The Court received over 400 submissions about the settlement, including the EFF-led coalition of authors and publishers concerned about reader privacy, as well as significant concerns raised by the Department of Justice.
The letter was signed by a large group of people and organizations including:
+ The Open Book Alliance*
+ Amazon.com
+ The Picture
+ Archive Council Of America
+ National Writers Union
+ Electronic Frontier Foundation
+ Pamela Samuelson (UC Berkeley Law Professor)
+ Microsoft
+ Washington Legal Foundation
+ The Internet Archive
+ Consumer Watchdog
+ Lyrasisk, Nylink and Bibliographical Center for Research Rocky Mountain, Inc.
+ Public Knowledge
+ Urban Libraries Council
+ The Special Libraries Association and the The New York Library Association are two of the members of the Open Book Alliance.
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