Lawyers argue that the Google Books agreement "amounts to an abuse of the class-action process," in the most direct attack on the settlement to date.
Unlike most previous objections to the project, which focused on policy issues and recommended modifications to the settlement, Mr. Gant argues that the agreement, which gives Google commercial rights to millions of books without having to negotiate for them individually, amounts to an abuse of the class-action process.
Opponents -- who cited various concerns relating to competition, privacy, abuse of the class-action process and the violation of copyright -- included lawyers for rivals Amazon.com and Microsoft, representatives of various authors and estates, literary agents and speakers representing Pennsylvania and Germany.
Clearly the majority of the court, left and right, is troubled by the abuse of the class-action process from cases seeking massive statutory damages untethered from any showing of actual harm," he said. .
Google will still get a de facto monopoly right to commercialize all out-of-print books, including the orphans, through the class action settlement process.
In 1998, Merrill settled another sex-discrimination class action by agreeing to a process for settling disputes with more than 900 women who filed claims.
The company argues the class action claim is an abuse of process.
A 22-year-old rape victim has filed a federal class action lawsuit against Harvey, Illinois, claiming that the city failed to process 200 rape kits, stalling police action on open investigations and eroding the value of crucial biological evidence.
Koh is in the process of figuring out whether the lawsuit should proceed as a class action, in which case the plaintiffs will be able to pursue a much larger settlement.
