בלוג לשיווק באינטרנט, ייעוץ שיווקי, וורדפרס וחיים באינטרנט *

"Google Google Google, you're just too big"

say its rival bookworms in the electronic book industry. The former former former's bid to secure the digital rights to millions of books remains under attack.

Google is shooting at a legal settlement that would unlock to the search and ad genius, a vast electronic library.

The opposition fired its latest salvo on Thursday, the deadline for filing objections with U.S. District Judge Denny Chin in New York.

The critics contend Google's US$125 million settlement of a class action lawsuit with U.S. publishers and authors would squash the competitors and drive up prices in the budding electronic book market. Opponents also warn that the digital books will give Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) an important tool for attracting more traffic and adding upon its already commanding lead in the Internet's lucrative search and advertising market.

Google's argument is that the agreement will benefit society by making it easier to see and potentially buy hard-to-find books.

The Mountain View, Cali firm has made digital copies of more than 12 million books in just the past five years; but they cannot display most of them until copyright issues are resolved.

Judge Chin has scheduled a Feb. 18 hearing to consider whether he will grant final approval to the complex settlement that was first worked out 15 months ago, or deliver Google a blow to the chin.
Google revised the agreement last November, two months after the Department of Justice warned the original settlement probably would violate antitrust and copyright laws. The government has until Feb. 4 to file its take on the revised settlement.

The fiercest criticism of the changes, so far have come from the same foes which spearheaded the resistance. The opposing camp includes the Open Book Alliance, a group including Microsoft, Yahoo and Amazon.com, as well as Consumer Watchdog, a group that fights abusive business practices.