Google Rewrites Controversial Books Deal Amid Antitrust Concerns - November 17, 2009 By Zusha Elinson The Recorder and Law.com Legal Newswire November 17, 2009 "Google Inc. revised its controversial books settlement late Friday night[, November 13, 2009] and revived the debate over who should decide the fate of orphan works: Google or the government. "Changes to the settlement were aimed at addressing concerns that Google had grabbed unfair control of orphan works -- books whose rights holders can't be found -- by including them in a class action settlement with authors and publishers over its book scanning project. But critics say that Google is still playing God -- a task better left to Congress. [ ... ] "Academics, Google competitors and the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division opposed the first settlement[, which] ... they said ... gave the search engine an unfair advantage: Google would essentially have exclusive rights to the digital distribution of orphan works. If a competitor wished to do the same, it would risk lawsuits." To read the full article, click on the Title Line, above.