Google, authors asked to submit deal changes by November 9
A technician operates a flatbed scanner to scan a book in the Digital Imaging Unit of the New York Public Library in New York City in this December 14, 2004 file photo.
Credit: Reuters/Mike Segar
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Changes to a settlement that would allow Google Inc to put million of books online should be presented in court by November 9, the judge presiding over the case said on Wednesday.
Google's plan has been praised for bringing broad access to books but has also been criticized on antitrust, copyright and privacy grounds.
The settlement is an effort to resolve a 2005 lawsuit brought by the Authors Guild and others.
Judge Denny Chin, of Manhattan federal court, said he hoped the parties would file a motion for preliminary approval of the amended deal by November 9 so a hearing could be held in late December or early January on possible final approval.
"I like the target date of early November. Targeting the changes is the right way to do it," Chin said during a 15-minute long conference in court with lawyers for Google, the Authors Guild and the U.S. Justice Department.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice urged Chin to reject an earlier version of the settlement.
"The parties' expectation is we will present a settlement agreement," Google lawyer Daralyn Jeannine Durie told Chin.
The case is Authors Guild et al v Google Inc, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan), No. 05-08136.
(Reporting by Grant McCool and Diane Bartz; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)
