Posted by Johanna Shelton, Senior Policy Counsel event hosted here in Washington by the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA David Balto , an antitrust lawyer, consumer advocate, and former policy director at the FTC, addressed the topic head-on when he presented his paper on the pro-competitive nature of the settlement, and a panel of legal commentators (James Grimmelmann and Jonathan Band) answered questions and provided their thoughts in response. In case you missed the event, a video of the event was just posted on the CCIA website.CCIA President and CEO, had to say about Google Books in the short videos below. Other experts -- including Einer Elhauge from Harvard Law School , Mark Lemley from Stanford Law School (and an attorney for Google) , and J. Gregory Sidak of Criterion and Jerry A. Hausman from MIT -- have weighed in with their support as well."I've looked carefully at the Google Books settlement to try to determine whether it will harm or benefit consumers, and I ultimately conclude that the settlement will be very beneficial." --David Balto, antitrust lawyer and Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress"...there's no doubt that the project is of tremendous value and importance to society." CCIA )
While you're posting papers by legal scholars, you should include Randal Picker's The Google Book Search Settlement: A New Orphan Works Monopoly?, which expresses a rather more skeptical view of the settlement's effects on competition. I've also written a reply to Hausman and Sidak, who appear to misunderstand what the settlement says.
ReplyDeleteFor a complete collection of academic commentary on the settlement, pro and con, check out the essays page of our site devoted to all things Google Book Search settlement, The Public Index.