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Scott E Gant, an author and partner at Boies Schiller & Flexner, a prominent Washington law firm, has launched what is being described as the "most direct attack" yet on the Google Books Settlement.
According to the NYT, Gant joins growing chorus of authors, academics and other book industry figures is objecting to the settlement of a class-action suit that would allow Google to profit from digital versions of millions of books it has scanned from libraries.
Gant said: "This is a predominantly commercial transaction and one that should be undertaken through the normal commercial process, which is negotiation and informed consent." He added that Google and its partners were "trying to ram this through so that millions of copyright holders will have no idea that this is happening".
Gant argued that the agreement, which gives Google commercial rights to millions of books without having to negotiate for them individually, amounts to an abuse of the class-action process. He also contended that it did not sufficiently compensate authors and did not adequately notify and represent all the authors affected.
Legal experts, who had not seen the filing but heard a description of it, said it could be the most direct attack on the agreement so far. But Richard Sarnoff, former chairman of the Association of American Publishers and co-chairman of the American unit of Bertelsmann, the parent company of Random House, argued: “The rights holder has 100 percent control and choice. If any author doesn’t want Google to be marketing or displaying their work, within 48 hours any of these works get pulled by Google.”
The court has set a 4th Sept deadline for briefs on the settlement and has scheduled a hearing for early October.