- eSchool News - https://www.eschoolnews.com -

Amazon.com makes its case against Google book deal

Online bookseller Amazon.com Inc. is warning a federal judge that internet search leader Google Inc. will be able to gouge consumers and stifle competition if it wins court approval to add millions more titles to its already vast digital library, reports the Associated Press. The harsh critique of Google’s 10-month-old settlement with U.S. authors and publishers emerged this week in a 41-page brief that Amazon filed in an attempt to persuade U.S. District Judge Denny Chin to block the agreement from taking effect. A flurry of filings opposing and supporting the class-action settlement is expected by Sept. 4–the deadline for most briefs in the case. At least two other Google rivals, Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc., are expected weigh in with their opposition by then. Seattle-based Amazon not only sells books, both in print and digital form, but also is trying to create a new distribution channel with its electronic reader, the Kindle. The Authors Guild, one of the parties that reached the settlement with Google, thinks Amazon is opposing the settlement because it wants the Kindle be the primary method for buying and reading digital books. "Amazon apparently fears Google could upend its plans," said Paul Aiken, the guild’s executive director…

Click here for the full story [1]