With the Google Settlement now in the hands of a federal judge, The Public Index, a group organized by New York Law School’s James Grimmelmann and his students, have updated and posted a revised document that categorizes and summarizes the objections to the Google Settlement, and the plaintiff’s responses to those objections. The 55-page report, an excellent resource for anyone researching the settlement and its pressure points, breaks the objections down into 11 categories: Fairness to Rightsholders; International; Jurisdiction; Class Action Procedure; Registry issues; Institutional Subscription; Antitrust issues; Privacy; Copyright Policy; and Information Policy.
The updated version, Grimmelmann notes, adds the “additional objections made to the amended settlement, and also the plaintiffs’ responses,“ as well as refining the document, improving organization and addressing omissions from the first version, as well as adding more links to additional references and resources since the settlement's February fairness hearing.
Although the settlement is now in the hands of a federal judge, it is unclear which judge that may be, following Judge Denny Chin’s recent promotion to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. It is unclear if Chin will himself still rule on the settlement’s approval, or will pass it on to another district court judge, or when that actual decision might be expected. If another judge takes over the case it would be the third since to 2008. John Sprizzo preliminarily approved the settlement in November, 2008, but passed away in that Decemeber. Chin has overseen the settlement since then, through two fairness hearing delays, and an amended agreement.
