Amazon.com has become increasingly public in recent weeks about it opposition to search giant Google's proposed book settlement with author and publisher groups. First Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos criticized the settlement, then Amazon joined a coalition aimed at derailing the deal. Now the online retailer is laying out its objections in court. In a legal brief filed Monday (pdf, 49 pages), Amazon writes that the proposed Google settlement "invades the prerogatives of Congress" and argues the issue can only be solved with "across-the-board changes to the copyright law that affect everyone."

Here's more from Amazon's objection, filed Tuesday in U.S. federal court in New York:

The settlement proposed by the parties to this case should not be approved. It is unfair to authors, publishers, and others whose works would be the subject of a compulsory license for the life of the copyright in favor of Google and the newly created Book Rights Registry. It is anticompetitive and violates antitrust laws because it provides Google 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.

Amazon goes on:

It also creates a cartel of authors and publishers—the Books Rights Registry—operating with virtually no restrictions on its actions, with the potential to raise book prices and reduce output to the detriment of consumers and new authors or publishers who would compete with the cartel members. Indeed, the agreement is even arguably unlawful on its face because it constitutes price fixing by horizontal competitors—namely, the Rightsholders, who are agreeing collectively on a mechanism for setting the highest possible prices to be charged for their works.

The Google book settlement would end a class action lawsuit brought in 2005 by author and publisher groups, who took issue with the search giant's project to digitize millions of books from major libraries and put them online. A federal judge will hear objections to the settlement deal in a hearing Oct. 7.

I'm still reading through Amazon's objection. One interesting note: Amazon said its own book-scanning project, which it launched in 2002, has "resulted in the lawful scanning of over 1 million English-language works and 3 million books in total." Amazon said it obtained permission from copyright holders for the books that it has digitized.

Amazon had no further comment on its legal brief, and Google didn't immediately respond to an email.

Google and Amazon are becoming big rivals in the emerging electronic book market. Google has cut deals to distribute its scanned books through Sony, Barnes & Noble, and, most recently, Interead (maker of the Cool-er reading device). The search giant has also hinted that it plans to let publishers sell new release books through its website, which would be an even bigger threat to Amazon. Amazon focuses primarily on new releases and bestselling titles for its Kindle.

Update: Google provided this statement from spokesman Gabriel Stricker on the Amazon filing:

The Google Books settlement is injecting more competition into the digital books space, so it’s understandable why our competitors might fight hard to prevent more competition.

It’s important to note that this agreement is non-exclusive and if approved by the court, stands to expand access to millions of books in the U.S.

[Via Bloomberg]

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