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Google says it won’t hurt competition

Google Inc has asked a federal judge to accept a $125 million settlement that would allow it to distribute digital books.

The agreement won’t hurt competition in the growing digital books market, the company said in a filing with a U.S. district court.

In doing so the company sought to counter objections by the U.S. Justice Department and others that the class-action settlement grants Google rights that go beyond the disputes raised in the lawsuit.

Google said the settlement will open the virtual doors to the greatest library in history, without costing authors payment they now receive or are likely to receive if the settlement is not approved.

District Court Judge Denny Chin will hold a hearing into the altered settlement on February 18, 2010.

Google agreed in 2009 to pay $125 million to settle the copyright claims and set up a book rights registry to identify and compensate rights holders whose books are copied by Google.

The US Justice Department, which is investigating possible anticompetitive practices in digital books intellectual property and distribution, last week urged Chin to alter the settlement, saying it hasn’t addressed its concerns.

The Open Book Alliance, a coalition opposed to the settlement, said that despite spin from Google’s attorneys, the amended settlement will still offer the search and online advertising giant exclusive access to books it has illegally scanned to the detriment of consumers, authors and competition.”

A 2005 lawsuit claimed Google infringed on copyrights by making digital copies of books without permission.

Open Book Alliance members include Amazon.com, American Society of Journalists and Authors, Council of Literary Magazines and Presses, Internet Archive, Microsoft, National Writers Union, New York Library Association, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Small Press Distribution, Special Libraries Association and Yahoo!

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