Open Book Alliance launches website opposing $125m Google Book Search settlement

The plot thickened today in the colossal legal and financial battle over the proposed $125 million Google Book Search settlement as the Open Book Alliance, a new character, launched a website opposing the proposed settlement, saying it “threatens to monopolize the access to and distribution and pricing of the largest digital database of books in the world.”

Under the leadership of the Internet Archive’s Peter Brantley and Silicon Valley attorney Gary Reback, the Open Book Alliance pits Amazon, Council of Literary Magazines and Presses, Internet Archive, Microsoft, New York Library Association, Small Press Distribution, Special Libraries Association, and Yahoo against Google, Association of American Publishers, and the Authors Guild! United States District Court Judge Denny Chin will hold a fairness hearing on the matter in New York City on October 7, 2009.

Meanwhile, read the Alliance’s The Google Books Settlement: Fact vs. Fiction (PDF, 2 pages).