Amazon accuses Google of seeking book monopoly

On-line retailer files official complaint in New York court proceedings

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4 September 2009 11:16 GMT / By Dan Sung

Amazon has officially filed its complaint against Google's eBook plans at the ongoing settlement hearing in New York. In a rather rich twist, the online paperback retailing giant has accused the search company of looking to corner the digital book market. The project concerned looks to make as many volumes as possible free for the public to view and download. Amazon has stated:

"It is unfair to authors, publishers and others whose works would be the subject of a compulsory licence for the life of the copyright in favour of Google and the newly created Book Rights Registry. It is anti-competitive and violates anti-trust laws because it provides Google with an effective monopoly in the scanning and exploitation of millions of works whose copyright holders cannot be located or choose not to involve themselves in this class action".

The settlement between Google and authors and publishers, worth $125 million, is set to conclude on 8 October and would give way to millions of out of copyright texts being available for free.

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