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Former children's laureates Quentin Blake, Anne Fine and Jacqueline Wilson, bestselling authors Jeffrey Archer and Louis de Bernières and critical favourites Thomas Pynchon, Zadie Smith and Jeanette Winterson have all opted out of the controversial Google book settlement, court documents have revealed. Authors who did not wish their books to be part of Google's revised settlement needed to opt out before 28 January, in advance of last week's ruling from Judge Denny Chin over whether to allow Google to go ahead with its divisive plans to digitise millions of books. The judge ended up delaying his ruling, after receiving more than 500 written submissions, but court documents related to the case show that more than 6,500 authors, publishers and literary agents have opted out of the settlement.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday resurrected a possible settlement in a class-action lawsuit brought by freelance writers who said that newspapers and magazines had committed copyright infringement by making their contributions available on electronic databases. The proposed settlement was prompted by a 2001 decision from the Supreme Court in favor of six freelance authors claiming copyright infringement in The New York Times Company v. Tasini. After the Tasini decision, many freelance works were removed from online databases. Most publishers now require freelance writers to sign contracts granting both print and online rights. After the decision, the authors, publishers and database companies who were parties to several class-action lawsuits negotiated a global settlement that would pay the plaintiffs up to $18 million.

Amazon is playing hardball with book publishers. The Seattle online bookseller says it will give authors a 70% cut of the sale of e-books sold for its Kindle readers, essentially offering writers a way to bypass traditional book publishers.

The Authors Guild agreed to a controversial settlement with Google because it feared repeating the mistakes that the music industry has made in dealing with digital works.

"J.K. Rowling has been named in a lawsuit alleging she stole ideas for her wildly popular and lucrative "Harry Potter" books from another British author. The estate of the late Adrian Jacobs added Rowling as a defendant in a lawsuit it filed in June against Bloomsbury Publishing PLC for alleged copyright infringement, according to a statement released by the estate's representatives, who are based in Australia."

Chinese authors were upset with their materials being digitized by Google for their Books Search project without their permission. They cited copyright infringement.

A list of the top 10 mergers in recent times according to PC Authority magazine. Not all are media companies, but still a useful overview.

Regarding the Google Books settlement & book digitization project.

"The Federal Communications Commission is considering aggressive moves to stake out its authority to oversee consumer access to the Internet, as a recent court \nhearing and industry opposition have cast doubt on its power over Web service providers.

The Pentagon made an announcement that it is authorizing the use of Twitter, Facebook, and other sites classified as "Web 2.0" across the U.S. military, according to a report by Reuters. The article mentioned that the Pentagon said that "the benefits of social media outweighed security concerns."

The federal judge overseeing the proposed settlement of a class-action lawsuit filed against Google by groups representing authors and publishers heard from a handful of supporters and a parade of objectors to the deal at a hearing Thursday in Manhattan.

Epicenter The Business of Tech Google Poaches Social Search Service Aardvark * By Ryan Singel Email Author * February 11, 2010 | * 3:49 pm | * Categories: Search * aardvark-answer1The coolest search engine you've never used got snapped up by Google Thursday for a reported $50 million. Aardvark, a company that lets you use IM, Twitter and e-mail to ask full-text questions and then get answers from people in or close to your social network, confirmed it signed a deal with Google. TechCrunch, which first reported the news, put the figure at $50 million, but Wired.com could not confirm the purchase price.

An withering critic of NBC's decision to limit online streaming of Olympic events to curling and hockey, in what the author describes as an attempt to force viewers into traditionally measurable media.

The Toronto-based startup Thoora promises to gauge how well individual news stories are doing by analyzing and calibrating real-time data from blogs, mainstream news sources and Twitter. Thoora's software uses more than 100 attributes to determine not only the most popular content but also the highest quality, using measures such grammar and spelling and the authority of sites that link to the content.

Provides breakdown of publishing costs for hardcover books vs. e-versions. Authors get screwed, while publishers struggle to cover their overhead costs and maintain profitability.

In another blow to Google's plan to create a giant digital library and bookstore, the Justice Department on Thursday said that a class-action settlement between the company and groups representing authors and publishers had significant legal problems, even after recent revisions.

Google's plan to digitize the world's books into a combination research library and bookstore has hit another snag, in the form of a U.S. Justice Department statement that "despite substantial progress made, issues remain" with the proposed settlement agreement of the class action lawsuit The Authors Guild Inc. et al. v. Google Inc.

Google's plan to digitize the world's books into a combination research library and bookstore has hit another snag, in the form of a U.S. Justice Department statement that "despite substantial progress made, issues remain" with the proposed settlement agreement of the class action lawsuit The Authors Guild Inc. et al. v. Google Inc.

Broadband companies are questioning the FCC's ability to regulate the Internet over fears they may be regulated similar to telephone companies. Chariman Genachowski remains adamant he will push ahead.

More specific legal language on the Net-Neutrality court decision.