US Department of Justice objects to Google book plan

The US Department of Justice has said that it is still not satisfied with a deal that would allow search giant Google to build a vast digital library.

It said the plan failed to address antitrust and copyright concerns.

It echoes objections by online retailer Amazon, which has said that Google's plan to scan and distribute millions of books online could lead to a monopoly.

Google were forced to amend details of the plan in 2009 after objections by the Department of Justice (DoJ).

"The amended settlement agreement still confers significant and possibly anti-competitive advantages on Google as a single entity," the DOJ said.

It said that the agreement would allow the Google to be "the only competitor in the digital marketplace with the rights to distribute and otherwise exploit a vast array of works in multiple formats".

'Unaddressed issues'

Google Books - formerly known as Google print - was first launched in 2004. It was put on hold a year later when the Authors Guild of America and Association of American Publishers sued over "massive copyright infringement".

In 2008 Google agreed to pay $125m (£77m) to create a Book Rights Registry, where authors and publishers could register works and receive compensation for scanned books.

A decision on whether the deal could go through was originally scheduled for October 2009. But, District Judge Denny Chin, presiding over the trial, sent the deal back to the drawing board after objections from around the world, including criticism by the DoJ.

The DoJ has once again waded into the debate.

It says the proposed settlement posed potential copyright and antitrust issues.

It also criticised the agreement for requiring authors to opt out of having their books included in the deal, rather than opting in.

It also said that authors and representatives of the publishing industry who had brokered the deal had inappropriately spoken for foreign authors and for authors of "orphan works".

Orphan books - of which there are thought to be five million - are titles where the authors cannot be found.

The DoJ said that Google's exclusive access to these orphan works "remains unaddressed, producing a less than optimal result from a competition standpoint."

But Google said that the Department of Justice's filing recognised "the progress made with the revised settlement".

"It once again reinforces the value the agreement can provide in unlocking access to millions of books in the US," it said.

"We look forward to Judge Chin's review of the statement of interest from the Department and the comments from the many supporters who have filed submissions with the court in the last months."

A hearing on the settlement has been scheduled on 18 February.

President Obama welcomes NI justice deal

US President Barack Obama has hailed the Northern Ireland policing deal as "an important step".

The president will meet First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness in Washington on St Patrick's Day.

Policing and justice powers could be devolved to NI on 12 April following the deal between the DUP and Sinn Fein.

A cross-community vote on devolving the powers will be held in the NI Assembly on 9 March.

President Obama will also host the Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen at the White House on 17 March.

He said he appreciated the contribution of Mr Cowen and Gordon Brown to the agreement, which he called "an important step on the pathway to greater peace and prosperity for all communities on the island".

Agreement was struck late on Thursday night after a meeting of the Democratic Unionist Party Assembly team.

Every MLA present backed the deal just before midnight.

Mr Brown, who arrived in NI on Friday, said the agreement was possible because of "a new spirit of mutual cooperation and respect".

"We are closing the last chapter of a long and troubled story and we are opening a new chapter for Northern Ireland," he said.

Disagreement on the timing of the devolution of the justice powers had threatened to collapse Northern Ireland's power-sharing administration.

'Sound deal'

Mr Cowen said the deal was "an essential step for peace, stability and security in Northern Ireland" which laid the foundations for a better future.

DUP leader Mr Robinson said: "Over recent weeks there may have been great frustration out in the community.

"But there would have been even greater frustration if we did a deal that collapsed. So it is far better that we spend the extra time and we get it right."

Sinn Fein's Mr McGuinness said: "We are dealing with centuries old difficulties here.

"If we are to succeed as a government, we have to show people at grassroots level that we can work together. The last thing that we want to do, while the eyes of the world are on us, is to fail."

He added: "This might just be the day when the political process in the north came of age."

A round table session of the assembly to discuss the deal took place on Friday morning attended by the two prime ministers.

However, the Ulster Unionist Party did not attend it because it was not told what the agreement contained before it was made public.

Party leader Sir Reg Empey said he would be seeking clarification form Mr Brown on the document.

He refused to say whether the UUP would take part in planned discussions about a new justice minister on Monday.

It had been expected that the parties would offer the justice ministry to the cross-community Alliance but the UUP chief whip Fred Cobain said his party would not accept such a move.

The normal procedure of electing ministers using the D'Hondt mechanism would give the ministry to the SDLP and Mr Cobain said acting outside D'Hondt was "gerrymandering".

He added: "We have been trumpeting this for months. We think the Alliance party have prostituted themselves over the issue of the justice ministry for months.

"We are not in favour of gerrymandering anything and we won't support Alliance because they have no democratic right."

The DUP agreed to back the deal after 10 days of talks with Sinn Fein, the British and Irish prime ministers and other parties on the issue.

The deal was also welcomed by Alliance Party leader David Ford: "This is what the people of Northern Ireland have waited so long to hear and it means that the Executive can get back to the real work of providing quality services and strengthening our economy."

SDLP leader Mark Durkan said he always thought a deal would be "scrambled over the line".

"We will have to take our turn with other parties in proofing what is proposed, not trying to create problems, but pre-empting any possible shortcomings or problems there are with it so we can actually improve it."

Snowmen

However, Traditional Unionist Voice, which opposes mandatory coalition with Sinn Fein, described the DUP as "snowmen who had melted".

Its leader Jim Allister said: "The DUP MLAs who buckled not only let themselves down, but, more importantly, let their country down."

Referring to the fact that 14 DUP assembly members reportedly voted against a deal on the table on Monday, he added: "The deal the DUP so meekly accepted is the same deal they rejected.

"The deal hasn't changed, only the snowmen of the DUP who melted once the heat came on."

The relationship between Sinn Fein and the DUP has been strained for some time because they disagreed about the timetable for the transfer of policing and justice powers from Westminster to Stormont.