Court Postpones Google Book Deal Hearing

The very controversial book deal between Google and the Authors Guild has been postponed.

Last week the Department of Justice urged the court overseeing the settlement to reject it in its current form. Calling for a rewrite of the settlement, the DOJ said the deal in its current form "does not meet the legal standards this Court must apply."

Soon after, the Author's Guild and the Association of American Publishers requested that a hearing scheduled for October 7 be delayed so they can make adjustments to the agreement.

The court has since granted this request on the condition that the parties appear on October 7 to update the court on their progress. The MoneyTimes today cites Judge Denny Chin who said there would be no point having the hearing on October 7 if the current agreement is not the final draft.

"Under all the circumstances, it makes no sense to conduct a hearing on the fairness and reasonableness of the current settlement agreement, as it does not appear that the current settlement will be the operative one," Judge Chin said.

The current draft of the deal has already faced criticism from Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo! Germany and France, as well as the European Union and the U.S. Copyright office.