DOJ's New Antitrust Chapter With Google Book Search?

Google may have settled an agreement with authors and publishers regarding its Google Book Search Service, but it looks like the U.S. Department of Justice still wants to have a say in the matter.

The Justice Department has begun an examination of the settlement, looking for antitrust implications, according to The New York Times.

The newspaper said Justice Department lawyers have been talking to groups opposed to the settlement and have notified Google and the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the Authors Guild that it is looking into antitrust issues. ' Google announced the settlement with the authors and publishers organizations last October, an action that resolved several lawsuits stemming from 2005. The settlement allowed Google to sell access to books that it would display online.

"While Google, the Authors Guild and the AAP have disagreed on copyright law, we have always agreed about the importance of creating new ways for users to find books and for authors and publishers to get paid for their works," wrote David Drummond, Google senior vice president of corporate development, and chief legal officer, in the company's blog last year.

As part of that agreement, Google established the funding of a Book Rights Registry, managed by authors and publishers, to locate and represent copyright holders. "We think the Registry will help address the 'orphan' works problem for books in the U.S., making it easier for people who want to use older books. Since the Book Rights Registry will also be responsible for distributing the money Google collects to authors and publishers, there will be a strong incentive for rightsholders to come forward and claim their works," Drummond wrote last October.

But according to the Times, critics argue that Google alone would have the license for those orphan books and some fear that Google, with no competition, would be free to raise prices for access to the collection.

Google executives could not be reached for comment.