San Francisco, November 14: Google Inc will loosen its control overmillions of copyright-protected books that will be added to its digital library if a federal judge approves a revised legal settlement addressing the earlier objections of antitrust regulators.
The concessions, filed yesterday in New York federal court, come two months after the US Justice Department balked at Google’s original agreement with authors and publishers, warning the arrangement could do more harm than good in the emerging market for electronic books.
Google, the Internet’s search leader, is hoping to keep the deal alive with a series of new provisions. Among other things, the modified agreement provides more flexibility to offer discounts on electronic books and promises to make it easier for others to resell access to a digital index of books covered in the settlement.
–PTI