From the San Jose Mercury News
O'Brien: Where Google Books went wrong, and how to fix it
By Chris O'Brien
One way to look at Google Books is to see an ambitious attempt to scan millions of books to preserve a wealth of human knowledge.
But for me, the project represented the first time Google's lofty ideals clashed with the need to make a buck. It prompted people to start asking a question that has only grown louder as the company has expanded: Does Google have too much power?
In the latest development in the legal fight over Google Books, a judge correctly rejected an overreaching settlement between Google and publishers last week. And since this tussle has gone on so long, it's easy to lose sight of its larger significance....
Google insisted that it would license the content to anyone and that the settlement would create a template that anyone else could follow if they wanted to get into the book-scanning business. But following this outline would require someone to raise millions of dollars to start a company and wait to be sued so they could strike a similar deal using this template.
"The settlement would give them a monopoly that they would potentially use to fix prices," said Pamela Samuelson, a professor of law at UC Berkeley, who has been among the most vocal opponents of the deal. "When the DOJ (Department of Justice) came out against the settlement, that was a very significant development."...
This story also appeared in the Contra Costa Times