Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Judge Chin Says He Will Cut the Google Book Settlement

Posted by timothy on from the why-not-horizontally dept.

Miracle Jones writes "In a move that has shocked the publishing world, Judge Denny Chin has filed a brief saying that he has decided to cut the Google Book Settlement in half, letting Google host the first half of every book the company has scanned, and letting other interested stakeholders fight for the rights to the rest. 'We think this is a hard decision, but a fair one,' said John Peter Franks for Google. 'We would like to be able to host and control whole books, but at least we get the front half.'"

38 comments

  1. Har Har by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Oh snap. You fooled me.

    1. Re:Har Har by nomadic · · Score: 1

      FINALLY after a decade of implausible and embarassingly bad April Fool's attempts, one of them tricked me.

    2. Re:Har Har by chaboud · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This one wouldn't be nearly as funny if the legal system here weren't such an enormous train-wreck. It seems that even the most ridiculous of outcomes is possible in the US.

    3. Re:Har Har by troll8901 · · Score: 1

      Darn darn darn darn damn right!!

      If not for the huge "the fiction circus" title, I would have believed it too.

    4. Re:Har Har by nomadic · · Score: 1

      You want to know the sad thing? IAAL who works exclusively in federal courts. This sounded plausible to me.

    5. Re:Har Har by chaboud · · Score: 1

      Exactly what I mean. I once complained to my attorney about the absurdity of the legal system, how having the best case, legally, is marginally relevant to achieving a reasonable outcome, and his response was:

      "The best odds you can get are maybe 70/30 in anything that goes to court. The only thing you can be sure of in a civil case is that, if you go to court, you've already lost."

  2. Hmmmm... by garyisabusyguy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seems like wise Judge Chin is looking for one of the plaintiffs to give up ownership in order to save the books from being cut in half... How biblical, and entirely unlikely :)

    --
    Wherever You Go, There You Are
    1. Re:Hmmmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wise Judge Chin

      Your Chin-stroking is so transparent.

  3. So now, the real mother will... by dgatwood · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...beg for the King to spare the book and give it to the other party?

    --

    Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  4. Wise king Chin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cut the ba... book in half.

    1. Re:Wise king Chin by einhverfr · · Score: 1

      The other half will be hosted by Topeka book services....

      --

      LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
  5. its april 2 in europe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    no more fools day:)

  6. oh gosh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    how interesting.

    Are the slashdot editors having a competition to see who can post the most pathetic article?

  7. This time by OrwellianLurker · · Score: 1

    This time I RTFA, because surely this is an April Fools joke.

    --
    'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.' - Mao Tse-tung
  8. Interesting by selven · · Score: 4, Funny

    Looks like the settlement has already been implemented by Sla

    1. Re:Interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That doesn't look like half the comment to me. That looks more like nine tenths!
      No, this doesn't add up at all!
      I'm suing!

      Yeah, even the captcha is mad at you, you promised!

  9. Longitudinal? by sbeckstead · · Score: 1

    I was hoping that the Authors/Publishers would get the bottom half of the page and Google the top half. Seems they divided it the stupid way. Make them cooperate to make a buck for a change.

    --
    Why bother
  10. next year... by prettything · · Score: 1

    ponies again!!

    pleeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaassssse yay ponies!

    --
    bring bak the ponies!!
  11. King Solomon, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Is that you?

  12. SlashDot is Dying by rekees · · Score: 0, Troll

    All of a sudden, this site is annoying. What's up with the SlashRoulette embedded crap?
    Are you guys at SlashDot going ballistic? It would be sad to not want to log on here anymore due to some crap app that some geek idiot finds cool. Sad.

    1. Re:SlashDot is Dying by Lunatrik · · Score: 2, Insightful

      *Woosh*

    2. Re:SlashDot is Dying by Dayofswords · · Score: 4, Insightful
      "by rekees (1420453) writes on Thursday April 01, @06:34PM (#31704040)"

      like the other guy said

      *Woosh*

      --
      Someday we'll hit the human carrying capacity. And the band will just play on.
    3. Re:SlashDot is Dying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't think it's "woosh". I think it's "hmm, that's not cool or funny or anything."

    4. Re:SlashDot is Dying by khchung · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Isn't that exactly the point? Every year on 1 April, the whole /. is completely filled with wanna be jokes "news" that there is no hope of getting anything useful at all.

      Just FYI, the rest of the world didn't stop for one day every April, some of us still proceed normally with life and still wants to check for some real news today.

      --
      Oliver.
    5. Re:SlashDot is Dying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's up with the SlashRoulette embedded crap?

      I guess it's meant to be based on the Chatroulette website. I don't know what Slashdot's did, because I didn't let the applet run.

      BTW, on a related note, if you want to see something somewhat funny instead of the other boring crap this April Fools, check out some of the Chatroulette improvisational videos:
      Chat Roulette Funny Piano Improv #1
      Funny Chat Roulette Acoustic Improv #1 (I prefer this; IIRC #2 was the best)

    6. Re:SlashDot is Dying by dgatwood · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Just FYI, the rest of the world didn't stop for one day every April, some of us still proceed normally with life and still wants to check for some real news today.

      Your loss.

      I tend to think that if the world were a little less uptight and could take a break once in a while to just laugh, we'd have a lot fewer wars, less terrorism, less crime, and a generally less miserable existence. IMHO, it's unfortunate that people don't take the opportunity to laugh at themselves more than once a year.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    7. Re:SlashDot is Dying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This.

      Serious people piss me off more than anything.
      Glad i don't work with people like that, probably go insane at them. (like you said)

      Serious people ruined the world.
      STRESS STRESS STRESS DEADLINES STRESS ANGRY LUNCHTIME CAKES WITH SOME STRESS SAUCE.
      Every. Single. Day. Now THAT is sad.

    8. Re:SlashDot is Dying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except its not funny, it's just stupid. Slashdot is just plain annoying every April 1st.

    9. Re:SlashDot is Dying by dgatwood · · Score: 1

      Except for those of us who find it funny. For us, Slashdot was stupid on the April 1st where they ran normal stories (two or three years ago, I forget).

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  13. Factual nitpick by JoshuaZ · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ok, April Fools I know but at least get the legal details right. A judge would file an opinion. A brief is what an interested party files to convince the judge of something or ask him to do something.

    1. Re:Factual nitpick by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The error might be intentional so that people won't, you know, actually believe the story is real.

  14. 1/2 by SnowZero · · Score: 1

    1/2 post!

  15. Cut the settle by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    Cut the settle? Presumably he's going to make it into two chairs.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  16. Nope. by leuk_he · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Posted by timothy on Fri 02 Apr 01:42AM
    from the why-not-horizontally dept.

    Not a joke outside the US timezone.

  17. How is this different from Internet Radio? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How is this different from Internet Radio? Where there is an official taker of royalties and if you're not part of the signed on (and paying) artist, you get NOTHING from those royalties?

    Really.

    Honest question.

  18. Ah Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Now we know the true owner of the book; for they would rather it go to another than come to harm.