A U.S. federal judge in New York City rejected on Tuesday a proposed settlement that would have allowed Google to carry out its controversial plans to digitize the world's books.
The federal judge, Denny Chin, ruled that the settlement of 125 million U.S. dollars is not fair or adequate, calling the settlement "would simply go too far."
"The settlement would give Google a significant advantage over competitors, rewarding it for engaging in wholesale copying of copyrighted works without permission, while releasing claims well beyond those presented in the case," Chin wrote in his ruling.
Google unveiled its plan to create an online database of "all the world's books" in 2004. Publishers and authors sued in 2005, alleging that the scanning of their books infringed upon their copyrights on a massive scale by digitizing books and allowing snippets of them to be seen online.
The settlement would have created a Book Rights Registry to compensate copyright holders and public access to certain books through Google.
The federal judge, Denny Chin, ruled that the settlement of 125 million U.S. dollars is not fair or adequate, calling the settlement "would simply go too far."
"The settlement would give Google a significant advantage over competitors, rewarding it for engaging in wholesale copying of copyrighted works without permission, while releasing claims well beyond those presented in the case," Chin wrote in his ruling.
Google unveiled its plan to create an online database of "all the world's books" in 2004. Publishers and authors sued in 2005, alleging that the scanning of their books infringed upon their copyrights on a massive scale by digitizing books and allowing snippets of them to be seen online.
The settlement would have created a Book Rights Registry to compensate copyright holders and public access to certain books through Google.
