Judge throws out Google book deal

A JUDGE has thrown out a major deal between Google and the book industry that would have seen millions of titles stored online.

The $125 million deal was challenged by rivals of the search giant, as well as consumer watchdogs, academics and foreign governments. This resulted in the matter being brought before the courts, with Judge Denny Chin ruling that the deal must not go ahead in its current form, due to anti-trust concerns and the requirement that the US Congress be involved.

Despite the bad news, Chin said he recognised the potential benefit of the deal in expanding access to literature. There was even room for a potential deal further down the line, should a compromise situation be arranged between Google and many of the objectors.

The primary concerns over the deal related to Google's potential to "exploit entire books, without permission of the copyright owners", Chin said. The possibility that Google could claim "orphan" works was also worrying, since it would give the company an effective monopoly over unclaimed books.

The deal itself arose after Google began copying books to its service in 2004. It was sued in 2005 by authors and publishers and then a settlement was made in 2008, which was tentatively approved a year later. Now it has fallen at the final hurdle, with competition concerns remaining the vital concern.

Google said the decision was "disappointing". It said it would continue to provide books through Google Books and Google Ebooks. µ