New York Law School law professor James Grimmelmann posted a detailed report from the hearing from his students. They noted this pretrial schedule: “The plaintiffs will move for class certification by December 11, 2011. Google will respond by January 26, 2012, and the plaintiffs will reply by March 12.”

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) president Tom Allen had this statement: “Today, we informed the court that the Association of American Publishers, the five publisher plaintiffs and Google have made good progress toward a settlement that would resolve the pending litigation regarding the Google Library Project.  We are working to resolve the differences that remain between the parties and reach terms that are mutually agreeable.” (Via Jen Howard)

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Here’s more from Reuters: “Chin said if the dispute is not ‘resolved or close to resolved in principle’ by mid-September, he will set a ‘relatively tight schedule’ for the parties to prepare for a possible trial … ‘One thought is to put you on a schedule, give you a deadline.’”

In March, Chin rejected the $125 million settlement negotiated between these parties. Follow this link to read his complete decision. The judge held a hearing today to see how much progress was made on a revised settlement. We will update this post as the story develops today.

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Authors Guild president Scott Turow said that they still hoped to reach an agreement, adding had this statement: “Regardless of the outcome of our discussions with publishers and Google, opening up far greater access to out-of-print books through new technologies that create new markets is an idea whose time has come … Readers want access to these unavailable works, and authors need every market they can get. There has to be a way to make this happen. It’s a top priority for the Authors Guild.”

Google managing counsel Hilary Ware had this statement: “This is clearly disappointing, but we’ll review the Court’s decision and consider our options. Like many others, we believe this agreement has the potential to open-up access to millions of books that are currently hard to find in the US today. Regardless of the outcome, we’ll continue to work to make more of the world’s books discoverable online through Google Books and Google eBooks.”

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The Wall Street Journal quoted the judge: “To end the suspense. I am not going to rule today … here is too much to digest.”

Our digitally obsessed sibling eBookNewser has more details: “Nonetheless, today’s fairness hearing will proceed as planned, with Lawyers from Amazon, Microsoft and the French and German governments speaking out against the revised settlement, which has already been much criticized by, among others, the Open Book Alliance and the US Department of Justice.”

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Here’s more from Reuters: “In a Tuesday ruling, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin said he planned to conduct a ‘thorough fairness analysis’ of the settlement at a February 18, 2010 hearing and Amazon could argue its case then.”

All year Google (GOOG) and the Authors Guild have struggled to finalize over Google’s efforts to scan millions of pages of books into an online database. When asked about the settlement in June, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos wondered why Google should “get a prize for violating a large series of copyrights.”

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“Under all the circumstances, it makes no sense to conduct a hearing on the fairness and reasonableness of the current settlement agreement, as it does not appear the the current settlement will be the operative one,” the judge wrote, according to Reuters.

Exactly one week ago, the Department of Justice (DOJ) urged a federal judge to reject the class action settlement in The Authors Guild Inc. et al. v. Google Inc.–pushing for revisions in this Google Books settlement. For over a year, this case has left the future of Google’s massive database of scanned book titles undecided.

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Ever since federal judge Denny Chin gave preliminary approval to the settlement last November, the fate of Google’s massive database of scanned book titles has been tied up in court. In the filing, the plaintiffs wrote that both sides wish “to work with the DOJ to the fullest extent possible”– a period of negotiation that would delay the settlement process even more.

Here’s more from the filing: “Approximately 400 objections, briefs of amici curiae, and statements, both in support of and in opposition to the Settlement Agreement, have been filed with the court…Because the parties, after consultation with the DOJ, have determined that the settlement agreement that was approved preliminarily in November 2008 will be amended, plaintiffs respectfully submit that the fairness hearing should not be held, as scheduled, on October 7.” (Via Kat Meyer)

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Federal judge Denny Chin has handled the complicated case for months, deciding the fate of Google’s massive database of scanned book titles. In the filing, the DOJ worried about licensing problems that could arise in the future, complaints from foreign writers and publishers, and the lack of “comparable access” for Google’s many competitors. The settlement was also a hot button topic on today’s Morning Media Menu.

Here’s more from the DOJ filing: “Given the parties’ express commitment to ongoing discussions to address concerns already raised and the possibility that such discussions could lead to a settlement agreement that could legally be approved by the Court, the public interest would best be served by direction from the Court encouraging the continuation of those discussions between the parties and, if the Court so chooses, by some direction as to those aspects of the Proposed Settlement that need to be improved. Because a properly structured settlement agreement in this case offers the potential for important societal benefits, the United States does not want the opportunity or momentum to be lost.”

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According to Reuters, the late Anna Nicole Smith‘s friend Stern had sued author Rita Cosby (pictured, via) and the Hachette Book Group for 19 allegedly libelous statements in Cosby’s book, “Blonde Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith’s Death.” Federal Judge Denny Chin dropped eight claims, and ruled that Hachette should not be involved in the lawsuit since the publisher had “no reason to doubt the truth of the book.”

The Morning Media Menu discussed the case today as well. Here’s more from the article: “Chin dismissed Stern’s claims that statements implying he was homosexual were defamatory … But he noted Cosby, who is also a television reporter, had to answer to claims that she knew some of her sources were not truthful.”

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The WSJ reports that the judge approved a “preliminary forfeiture order” of $170 billion against the former investor, reportedly leaving him “penniless.” There’s nothing left to do except write a book. Back in January, eight different writers were shopping books about the scandal.

The website DailyLit has already serialized a book about the Madoff scandal, here’s a link: “The stranger-than-fiction story of how one well-respected money manager built a business empire over decades by means of a classic Ponzi scheme. (This is a fraudulent investment strategy which pays returns to early investors with money put in later by subsequent investors.)”

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According to Publishers Weekly, the legal deadline for writers to agree to the settlement or fight it in court used to be May 5, but has now been moved to September 2009. Both parties are working to finalize a settlement to the Guild’s lawsuit over Google’s efforts to scan millions of pages of books into an online database.

Here’s more from Wired Magazine: “A small coalition of copyright holders, including folk singer Arlo Guthrie, John Steinbeck‘s heirs and sci-fi god Philip K. Dick‘s trust, asked a federal court judge Friday to give all book authors another four months to comprehend and respond to the 334-page settlement proposed last October after the Author’s Guild sued Google for massive copyright violations in its Google Book Search product.”

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