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"The entire Google Books affair has turned into one complicated mess.\nHere's a recap of what's been happening: In late 2008, Google, The Authors Guild, and the Association of American Publishers came to an agreement over Google Books, which lets you search and read millions of scanned manuscripts.  The agreement settled copyright issues and gave publishers and authors a cut of the revenue Google generated.  For a long time, we thought that was the end of the matter.\nWe were wrong. Late last month, Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon, and others teamed up to challenge the Google Books settlement.  Microsoft is now calling it an illegitimate \"joint venture\" and according to the New York Times Bits Blog, The U.S. Congress is about to weigh in.  \nSorting Out the Mess...\nWhile the entire affair is complicated, it boils down to this: a lot of interest groups, led by the non-profit Internet Archive and Amazon are arguing that the Google Books settlement is tantamount to a monopoly.  \nNow there is a Justice Department investigation over whether or not Google violated antitrust law.  Other sides have already filed their arguments with the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York.  \nThe arguments and language are powerful.  Microsoft's statement, according to ZDnet, claims that the settlement \"confers on Google a new monopoly by authorizing Google (and Google alone) to engage in the wholesale commercial exploitation of entire copyrighted books.\"  Those are some strong words, and Microsoft's view is shared by many others.\nWhile the court deals with these filings, the House Judiciary Committee will be hosting a Hearing on Competition and Commerce in Digital Books, where we can expect Google and Amazon to square off.  \nHow did the Google Books debate get to this point?  The controversy, while understandable, just keeps on growing.  We have no idea what will happen to the settlement at this point, but Congress will clearly play a role. \nImage courtesy of iStockphoto, luoman"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2009/09/09/congress-google-books/>