Judge Rejects Google Book Settlement

A federal judge has rejected the 2008 settlement reached between Google Inc., authors and publishers that would allow the Internet search company to make millions of books available online, according to reports from several major news outlets this afternoon, including the Wall Street Journal. WSJ.com reports that Denny Chin, a judge on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, said that allowing Google to sell these books would give it "the ability to 'exploit' books without the permission of the copyright owners." The settlement was denied "without prejudice," which means that Google could submit a revision to the settlement to better meet the criteria of the court.