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(Another) New Google Books Deadline Set

It could be said that the Google Books case is becoming the new Microsoft-Yahoo deal, having created all sorts of controversy and dragged on and on.  And on some more, as it turns out, since the involved parties are pushing a target date back again.

Google Books Gets A Little More Organized

Big libraries are neat - the idea of having so much information (and entertainment) available in one place is just inherently attractive.  The trouble is, big libraries can also be overwhelming, and so Google Books has tried to make its own virtual library a little more accessible by creating a list of available magazines.

November 9th Target Set In Google Books Case

An end to the long-running argument over the Google Books settlement may be in sight.  A federal judge has asked both sides to return to court and submit a new agreement by November 9th, with the idea of completely wrapping things up a month or two later.

French Case Over Google Books Begins

French publishers had their first day in court today as a case concerning Google Books began.  Various organizations are clamoring for Google to stop scanning manuscripts, and the plaintiffs are seeking about $22 million in compensation, too. The La Martiniere publishing group originally brought its case against Google several years ago.  Since then, the Syndicat National de l'Edition and the Societe des gens de letters have offered their support.

Google Books Opens Door To On-Demand Printing

Few people would argue that computer monitors - no matter how big and how nice - are suitable for displaying entire books.  Even if the text looks okay, monitors still can't be carried into the kitchen or held above your head on a recliner.  So it may interest readers (along with critics of the Google Books settlement) to know that Google has provided On Demand Books access to its library.

U.S. Copyright Office Objects To Google Books Settlement

More and more, it's shaping up to be Google versus the world as far as the proposed Google Books settlement is concerned.  In fact, the head of the U.S. Copyright Office sided against Google today, and she seemed to consider that scenario is a real possibility.

Google Books Backpedals

Google's scaled back its literature-related plans in the hopes of not angering publishers and regulators in Europe; the company has said that it won't add content to Google Books if it's available for sale on that continent.  At least a few important critics seem unimpressed, however, as France is objecting in a U.S. court. 

Google Shares New Privacy Policy for Books

Google has introduced a new privacy policy for Google Books, to try and appease the critics of Google's enormous book indexing project. The company has also been in communication with the Federal Trade Commission, and has discussed both the new policy and a letter to the FTC on the Google Public Policy Blog.

Google Books Gets First Non-US eBook Partner

Interread, the British company that owns CoolerBooks.com, has announced a partnership with Google in which it will include over a million public domain books from Google Books in its online library. This makes CoolerBooks the first ebookstore outside the US to partner with Google Books.

Google Book Downloads Compatible on More Devices

Google is now offering downloads of public domain books in Google Books in the EPUB format, which is an open and free industry standard for electronic books. This format is supported by a wide variety of different applications, so it should be easy for many people to access literature this way. Users can download the public domain books by simply clicking the "download" button in the Google Books Toolbar, which provides a drop-down menu to choose the file format.