Google Books Settlement Fairness Hearing Postponed (again!)

Bookseller.com reports that U.S. Authors Guild and the American Association of Publishers have asked the court to once again postpone the Fairness Hearing in the Google Books Settlement in order for these parties to consider and respond to the points made by the Justice Department in their Statement of Interest. They ask for a status conference to be held on November 6. Unless Judge Chin grants this request for an extension, the current deadline for his decision about the Settlement is October 7. In the earlier blogpost about the DOJ comments, recall that the Justice Department had real concerns about due process and antitrust problems with the Settlement, but was very supportive of the Project overall. They actually said they did not want the Google Books Project to lose momentum. They simply want the judge to think carefully about structuring the Settlement in ways that address the concerns the DOJ raises.