US Department of Justice objects to Google book plan

A hearing on the settlement is scheduled for 18 February

The US Department of Justice has said that it is still not satisfied with a deal that would allow search giant Google to build a vast digital library.

It said the plan failed to address antitrust and copyright concerns.

It echoes objections by online retailer Amazon, which has said that Google's plan to scan and distribute millions of books online could lead to a monopoly.

Google were forced to amend details of the plan in 2009 after objections by the Department of Justice (DoJ).

"The amended settlement agreement still confers significant and possibly anti-competitive advantages on Google as a single entity," the DOJ said.

It said that the agreement would allow the Google to be "the only competitor in the digital marketplace with the rights to distribute and otherwise exploit a vast array of works in multiple formats".

'Unaddressed issues'

Google Books - formerly known as Google print - was first launched in 2004. It was put on hold a year later when the Authors Guild of America and Association of American Publishers sued over "massive copyright infringement".

In 2008 Google agreed to pay $125m (£77m) to create a Book Rights Registry, where authors and publishers could register works and receive compensation for scanned books.

It once again reinforces the value the agreement can provide in unlocking access to millions of books in the US Google spokesperson Deadline looms for Google Books

A decision on whether the deal could go through was originally scheduled for October 2009. But, District Judge Denny Chin, presiding over the trial, sent the deal back to the drawing board after objections from around the world, including criticism by the DoJ.

The DoJ has once again waded into the debate.

It says the proposed settlement posed potential copyright and antitrust issues.

It also criticised the agreement for requiring authors to opt out of having their books included in the deal, rather than opting in.

It also said that authors and representatives of the publishing industry who had brokered the deal had inappropriately spoken for foreign authors and for authors of "orphan works".

Orphan books - of which there are thought to be five million - are titles where the authors cannot be found.

The DoJ said that Google's exclusive access to these orphan works "remains unaddressed, producing a less than optimal result from a competition standpoint."

But Google said that the Department of Justice's filing recognised "the progress made with the revised settlement".

"It once again reinforces the value the agreement can provide in unlocking access to millions of books in the US," it said.

"We look forward to Judge Chin's review of the statement of interest from the Department and the comments from the many supporters who have filed submissions with the court in the last months."

A hearing on the settlement has been scheduled on 18 February.

US Department of Justice objects to Google book plan

A hearing on the settlement is scheduled for 18 February

The US Department of Justice has said that it is still not satisfied with a deal that would allow search giant Google to build a vast digital library.

It said the plan failed to address antitrust and copyright concerns.

It echoes objections by online retailer Amazon, which has said that Google's plan to scan and distribute millions of books online could lead to a monopoly.

Google were forced to amend details of the plan in 2009 after objections by the Department of Justice (DoJ).

"The amended settlement agreement still confers significant and possibly anti-competitive advantages on Google as a single entity," the DOJ said.

It said that the agreement would allow the Google to be "the only competitor in the digital marketplace with the rights to distribute and otherwise exploit a vast array of works in multiple formats".

'Unaddressed issues'

Google Books - formerly known as Google print - was first launched in 2004. It was put on hold a year later when the Authors Guild of America and Association of American Publishers sued over "massive copyright infringement".

In 2008 Google agreed to pay $125m (£77m) to create a Book Rights Registry, where authors and publishers could register works and receive compensation for scanned books.

It once again reinforces the value the agreement can provide in unlocking access to millions of books in the US Google spokesperson Deadline looms for Google Books

A decision on whether the deal could go through was originally scheduled for October 2009. But, District Judge Denny Chin, presiding over the trial, sent the deal back to the drawing board after objections from around the world, including criticism by the DoJ.

The DoJ has once again waded into the debate.

It says the proposed settlement posed potential copyright and antitrust issues.

It also criticised the agreement for requiring authors to opt out of having their books included in the deal, rather than opting in.

It also said that authors and representatives of the publishing industry who had brokered the deal had inappropriately spoken for foreign authors and for authors of "orphan works".

Orphan books - of which there are thought to be five million - are titles where the authors cannot be found.

The DoJ said that Google's exclusive access to these orphan works "remains unaddressed, producing a less than optimal result from a competition standpoint."

But Google said that the Department of Justice's filing recognised "the progress made with the revised settlement".

"It once again reinforces the value the agreement can provide in unlocking access to millions of books in the US," it said.

"We look forward to Judge Chin's review of the statement of interest from the Department and the comments from the many supporters who have filed submissions with the court in the last months."

A hearing on the settlement has been scheduled on 18 February.

Bank of England's time-out for quantitative easing plan

The Bank of England has decided against further quantitative easing (QE), the policy designed to stimulate growth in the UK economy.

Under QE, the Bank has pumped new money into the economy by buying assets such as government bonds, as a way to boost lending by commercial banks.

Last week, it revealed it had spent all of the £200bn it created for QE.

The Bank also kept interest rates on hold at a record low 0.5% for the 11th consecutive month.

'Further purchases'

The Bank is not retiring, triumphant, from the field, the enemy slain, its job well and truly done Stephanie Flanders, BBC economics editor Read Stephanie's blog

While halting QE, the Bank said the £200bn already injected into the economy through the programme would "continue to impart a substantial monetary stimulus to the economy for some time to come".

But it did not close the door on further spending.

"[The Bank] will continue to monitor the appropriate scale of the asset purchase programme and further purchases would be made should the outlook warrant them."

One area that it will be looking at is banks' lending to businesses and consumers, as QE was designed to help boost lending.

"Conditions for lending in this country, especially to small and medium-sized businesses, are still much weaker than [the bank] would have wanted," said the BBC's economics editor Stephanie Flanders.

The money markets are already factoring in a rise to some extent which affects fixed-rate mortgage pricing already Ray Boulger, John Charcol mortgage brokers What now for mortgage and savings rates?

Analysts said concerns about rising inflation were one factor in the Bank's decision to suspend QE.

"Inflation is considerably stronger than the Bank had expected and there are concerns that it won't get back within target [if QE continued]," Jason Simpson from Royal Bank of Scotland told the BBC.

Weak growth

Official figures in January showed that UK consumer prices rose in December by 2.9%, their fastest annual pace for nine months and above the Bank's 2% target.

Bank Governor Mervyn King warned last month inflation was "likely to rise to over 3% for a while", and could go even higher if energy prices and indirect taxes were to increase further, but added that it "should return to target in the medium term".

Although the UK did officially come out of recession in the fourth quarter of 2009 - ending six consecutive quarters of economic decline - the growth was just 0.1%, much less than expected.

For that reason, most analysts expect rates to stay at 0.5% until at least the second half of 2010 for fear of the UK falling back into recession.