September 2009
KBT&F Files Amicus Brief Opposing Proposed Google Book Settlement
Daniel J. Fetterman,
Charlotte Pontillo
Early this month, KBT&F filed an
amicus curiae brief in
Manhattan federal court opposi
ng court approval of the proposed
class settlement of
Authors Guild et al v. Google Inc.
, a
putative class acti
on charging Google with copyright infringement for scanning books and displaying them online.
The firm filed the brief on behalf of Consumer Watchdog, a national
, non-partisan, non-profit organization
representing the interests of consumers. In the brief, Consumer Watchdog argues that the propos
ed settlement
-- which would afford Google vast rights to copyrighted works -- should be rejected because it
would be anticompetitive, violate both
U.S. and international copyright law and
be otherwise not in the public interest. KBT&F partners Daniel Fetterman and
Peter Toren and associate Charlotte Pontillo pr
epared and filed the brief on behalf of Consumer Watchdog.