Lots is happening. Today (thus far):
- The Open Rights Group became the first organization to come forward with comments to the European Commission’s upcoming hearing on the case. The international perspective they push is very interesting, because the procedural posture is so different. Here in the U.S., we have a pending case before a court and the issues turn on legality; there, matters are comparatively much more policy-oriented. (It’s not immediately obvious whose position this shift favors.)
- Bernard Lang posted an updated version of his essay on the international angles.
- Jerry A. Hausman and J. Gregory Sidak published Google and the Proper Antitrust Scrutiny of Orphan Books in the Journal of Competition Law and Economics. They join Mark Lemley, David Balto, and Einer Elhauge as antitrust anti-critics.
- Google Books added support for the EPUB file format for its public-domain downloads, making for yet another open-access-friendly policy announced in the days leading up to the filing deadline.
- The Open Book Alliance unveiled its website opposing the settlement. As expected, Gary Reback and Peter Brantley are running it, on behalf of an interesting coalition of Google competitors, authors’ groups, and library groups.