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PARIS - Google said on Monday that it faced antitrust complaints in Germany from newspaper and magazine publishers who want the company to pay for using article snippets in its Web news service and search results.

Fending criticisms from multiple parties, Google once again made the case for digitizing millions of orphaned books before the U.S. District Court Southern District Court of New York, in a fairness hearing held Thursday. A total of 27 different parties requested to speak before the court. Five were in favor, including Sony, the National Federation of the Blind and the Center for Democracy and Technology. The rest -- 22 in total -- opposed the settlement, including Amazon, Microsoft, the Open Book Alliance, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center. Those in favor praised the idea of rendering hard-to-find books in electronic form, because they could be accessible to a much larger group of readers, and not be lost to the ages. The objectors, however, voiced strong concerns that the settlement case preempts U.S. copyright law altogether. Others voiced privacy and antitrust concerns.

The Department of Justice and the FCC are performing antitrust reviews of the proposed Comcast/NBC merger.

"the court has dismissed RealNetworks' claims of antitrust violations on the part of the motion picture industry. The basis of the case, however -- whether Real or anyone will be able to market a product like RealDVD -- continues."

In his opening remarks about the proposed Comcast-NBC deal at a hearing held by the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, Franken (D-Minn.) ripped into the deal and the risks it could present to not only consumers but media competition as well.

Consumer groups urge action on the cable industry's TV Everywhere, which the groups claim will limit online television development and access to protect traditional cable business models.

Intel's using the words of former AMD employees in their defense of the FTC suit filed last year.

"They have the chutzpah to say that the new venture will boost quantity, quality, diversity and "local focus." I would think that "surely they jest" but, indeed, they are serious. They have filed with both the Justice Department, as well as the FCC. The $30 billion deal will also be examined on Capitol Hill in hearings beginning next week."

Merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation, two of the major concert ticket vendors in the US, was approved by the US Justice Department. Consumer groups, independent promoters and ticket brokers all urged the department to block the deal, warning that it would give the resulting company the power to dictate terms for live entertainment at the expense of venues, artists and consumers. The companies argued that combining their ticketing and promotions arms would enable them to offer better services to venues and acts, and better value to fans.