Associated Press Ahead of the Bell: Google book settlement




WASHINGTON -- A Congressional committee will review the pros and cons of a class-action settlement that would giveGoogle Inc. the digital rights to millions of copyrighted books that are no long being published.
Thursday's scheduled testimony before the House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee is expected to touch upon many of the same issues that already have been covered in volumes of briefs filed with U.S. District Judge Denny Chin in the past few weeks.
Chin is expected to approve or reject Google ( GOOG - news -people )'s proposed settlement with U.S. authors and publishers before the end of the year.
Google rivals Microsoft Corp. (MSFT - news people ), Yahoo Inc. ( YHOO - news people ) andAmazon.com Inc. ( AMZN - news -people ) are among the most prominent members of an alliance that contends the settlement will create an illegal monopoly that will drive up the price of digital books and make Google's search engine even more influential.
The antitrust concerns prompted the U.S. Department of Justice to open an investigation into whether the settlement will undermine competition. The Justice Department is scheduled to report some of its preliminary filings to Chin by Sept. 18.
Other critics, including consumer watchdog groups and some library associations, are worried the deal will open a window on what kinds of books people are reading.

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