Microsoft Blasts Google Book Deal

eldavojohn writes "With authors, scholars, the DoJ and publishers ripping apart the Google book deal, it's Microsoft's turn. They're claiming it's frankly an illegal 'joint venture' and not a settlement. According to ZDNet, Microsoft's four complaints against the deal are: 1) Future infringements are covered by the settlement, affecting the exclusive rights of absent class members for the life of their copyrights. 2) The deal gives away to Google vast rights that were not contested in the underlying litigation. The lawsuits dealt with Google's displaying brief excerpts. Instead of compromising on that infringement, the parties instead agreed to give away the rights to display entire books. 3) The publishers who negotiated this deal each have undisclosed side deals with Google, which will likely give them better terms than the class will get. 4) The publishers plan to exclude their own works from the deal. You might recall over a year ago Microsoft's own scanning effort died."

Comments

Re:Haul down the competition

[commodore64_love]

I like that you're idealistic, but that's simply not how the real world works. Congress passes highway funding bills which tell the States, "Increase your drinking age to 21, else you will only get 95% of the funds," and it's perfectly legal according to the Supreme Court. I'm sure they'd say the same in regards to this deal where you give-up your GPL rights in exchange for cash.

(goes off to sign up for free cash)