A legal settlement between Google and a pair of author/publisher groups is drawing the ire of major competitors like Microsoft, Yahoo! and Amazon.
The tech bigwigs have joined some library associations to challenge Google’s deal that comes to terms with the Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild. They’ve hired a prominent antitrust lawyer to investigate the settlement, which Google defends as perfectly legal.
The agreement must still get approval from the courts. Essentially, it ends a class-action lawsuit that the publishers and authors filed against the search-engine giant, allowing Google to use books that it scanned from library shelves for its digital books service. Google has agreed to share ad revenue with the authors and publishers.
The attorney for Microsoft, Yahoo! and Amazon says the companies might not choose to block the settlement, but they want it to be revised.
